Moonless Nights
by Jaganshi Mori
Summary: A shinigami that never entered the academy finds her way into seireitei and into the hearts of many. She has no idea how she became one, or even how she died. RenxOC Set before actual story line and goes into bleach story HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

Mori: I HAD to write this! (I can't ever seem to focus on one story!) I kind of started getting into Renji and thought of this little plot!

I've never done this before. Usually my little divider thingies have been initials of the main characters or relating to the story in some way and repeating over and over. This time I'll try something a little different! XD

** T S U K I**

Heavy rain fell upon soul society that late afternoon. Angry grey clouds refused to show them the beautifully setting sun and instead gave them a chilled wind and an array of grays and blacks. Thunder roared down from the heavens and lightening flashed, attempting to scare away any that so happen to be near by. Earlier the rain had been light enough for some to consider it mist, but not now as the clear liquid had begun to turn into a small stream and wash red liquid along with it.

Her ebony hair was sprayed everywhere, natural red streaks blended in with the warm sticky liquid that refused to stop gushing from her wounds. Her fiery red eyes began to grow dull and lifeless. Her breathing was shallow and a metallic taste filled her mouth and escaped to the side of her lips and ran down her chin, onto the mud beneath her. A few last tears escaped her eyes as the reality of the situation filled her mind.

'_No…Not like this…'_ She coughed up blood and continued to drift between reality and unconsciousness. She distinctly made out a sloshing sound, but brushed it off as the rain.

"Hey! Someone's over here! Captain!" The sloshing noise was louder and quicker than before, "Hey," The voice was much closer now, almost as if he were right beside her. The girl looked up with her eyes slightly and, to her surprise, saw someone kneeling right beside her, "You okay?" he asked, clearly concerned.

He was such a blur to her eyes. She had already been on the brink of death; her crying didn't help much at all. She blinked until a bit of her vision began to make its way back to her. She couldn't believe the color of his hair! It was such a bright red! Like freshly spilled blood or even a color of the sunset! She knew her hair had a few red streaks here and there, but his! His was almost ridiculous!

"Hey c'mon! Stay with me! What's your name? What squad division are you from?" He asked her, his voice becoming slightly panicked. He turned her over onto her back and tried to cover up some of the more serious wounds, while she continued to stare at him.

Squad Division? Had she been part of one? If so then she couldn't remember much about being in one. She winced as he applied pressure to her stomach area, "Your name. What is it?" The woman in front of him looked up directly at the mourning phenomenon before her as it continued to place wet kisses upon her cheek, each time just barely missing her eyes.

"The moon," she said weakly, lifting up her arm and holding her palm to the sky, "I can't see the moon," Her tears mixed with the rain so that he wouldn't be able to tell whether or not she was crying.

"What? What are you talking about?" He asked almost angrily, "I asked for your name! Don't defy a vice captain!" She slowly closed her eyes, suddenly feeling too tired to continue any further, "Hey! Don't you dare die on me! Hey! Hey!"

His voice echoed in her ears each time he called out to her. The sound drifted and dulled as if it were traveling through water. She held onto his voice until she could no longer make it out. She steadily drifted off, no longer caring about anything. Before she drifted off completely she could've sworn she'd heard him curse.

** Y O M I**

"Ugh," She groaned and rolled over on her side. She hissed, feeling a sharp pain in her side.

"Oh! You mustn't!" A panicked, childish voice rang in her ears, "You'll re-open your wounds! Please don't move!" He laid her back onto her backside gently. Her eyes snapped open and sat straight up. She surveyed the room in a panic and realized that A. She was alive and B. She was not where she had last been.

She turned and glared at the person who had helped her turn back over. She scrutinized ever detail about him. His kimono was black complete with a white sash to hold it together. His posture looked timid and cautious. His steel-grey eyes hid behind his faded black hair.

"I'm Yamada Hanatarou. 4th seat of squad division 4!" He smiled at her. She calmed for a second, but remained tense and wary of him, "May I ask your name, Miss?" She continued to stare at him. He shifted, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, "Unohana-taichou is out at a captain's meeting at the moment. She's the one who healed up most of your wounds. If you don't mind me asking: what squad are you from? I'm not sure if I've seen you before,"

She lowered her gaze to the bed sheets before her and refused to answer any of his questions. She didn't want to say anything that might get her into trouble. She hadn't had a clue what the kid was talking about. Divisions, seats, captains, it all meant nothing to her!

"My, it seems this one's a bit uncooperative," A woman with long black hair, braided in front of her, entered the room. A long white cloak covered her black kimono. Many more people followed in after her, all of whom where wearing something similar. Those that weren't wearing white cloaks over black kimonos, had an arm sash tied to their right arms, "Hanatarou, if you could please leave for a moment," the woman, who she assumed to be Unohana-taichou, told him in a gentle but demanding voice.

"Y-yes, Captain!" He quickly scrambled up and left the room. The woman only recognized one of the many people in the room and that was only because of his unusual hair color.

One man walked forward. He was very elderly and leaned against a wooden staff. He was bald at the top of his head, but it seemed as if his beard and mustache had hair long enough to replace the shiny baldness at the top, "Let me ask you this child, before you speak a single word: You dress like a shinigami and even carry zanpakutou with you. You have a decent amount of reiratsu and hold your expressions well, from what I can see now," The atmosphere around him grew dark, "However; you are not in any of our records. Not in past files, nor in current ones, not even in the academy list of beginners. Now tell me and the twelve other captains and vice captains before you: Who are you exactly? And how is it that you are a shinigami, with two zanpakutou no less!"

The many people that filled the room looked at her with either empty expressions or with awed ones. She clenched her fists and bit her lip. She glared at the bed sheets and refused to answer anyone. There was only one person within the room that was worth her time and it wasn't him. The woman felt cold steel upon her neck. She cast her eyes in the direction of the blade and its owner.

"You'd do well to answer the questions," His voice was cold and ruthless, "You are in no position to fight any one of us," His steel grey eyes where the same as the horrid clouds that had blocked her dieing view of the beautiful moon the other night. She decided right then that she hated him for that alone.

"C'mon, Kid. Just answer the damn questions. We haven't got all day," One man said bored tone. His hair was completely spiked up and at the tip of each spike was a single bell. He wore an eye patch on his right eye and his kimono was worn out. On his shoulder was a small girl with pink hair and brown eyes. On her right shoulder was a badge.

The woman sitting in front of them all wanted to ignore every last one of them (aside from one), and curl up in a ball in a corner. She would've if it hadn't have been for one of them placing a sword to her throat. She jumped slightly at the sudden presence to her left.

"Look," The man with red hair began. His long hair was up in a pony tail, and spiky at the ends. His hair only amplified the color of his brown eyes. Instead of being a dark brown color, they appeared to be a light honey brown. She also noted the tattoos that were placed on his forehead, "Unless you want my captain to cut you to pieces I suggest you answer a few questions. Now: What's your name?"

She hesitated for a moment, "Tsukiko," he voice was raspy and weak from the time she had been out. The people in the room were surprised for a moment, but brushed it off as just afraid of the threat their subordinate had bestowed upon her.

"Tsukiko what? What's your full name?"

"I don't know," She answered him again looking only at him as she spoke.

"How is it that you are a shinigami if we have no record of you existing?" The captain holding the sword to her throat asked.

She ignored him as if he hadn't asked the question at all and waited for the man with red hair to ask her another question.

"Answer me!" The captain was growing irritated and his tone grew more dangerous.

"How did you become a shinigami?" The redhead asked for his captain.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully.

"Why are you only answering me?" He asked, curious. He was sure it was an okay question and that he wasn't the only person thinking it.

"You're the only one in this room that deserves an answer," she answered back truthfully.

"Why?"

"Because you were the one that found me," He voice was steadily growing stronger, "I remember that much,"

"Why do you have two zanpakutou?" The old man from before asked. She ignored him, like the other captain. The redheaded man saw this and repeated the elder's question before he could become irritated.

"I don't know,"

"Do you even know their names?" He asked wearily.

"Yes," She was growing tired of questions.

"Well what are they?!" He nearly snapped.

"Why should I tell you that? Just because I said you deserved an answer doesn't mean I'll let you in on my personal life," She glared at him.

"You little…"

"Abarai Renji fuku-taichou," The elderly man stepped forward, "Step down please,"

"Hai, Yamamoto-taichou!" Renji got up and stepped back behind the elderly man.

"Captain Kuchiki Byakuya, you as well," The man that held the sword to her throat, put it away and backed off slightly, still glaring at Tsukiko, "I am fully aware that you will refuse to answer me, child," his tone was serious and dangerous, "However, until we decide what to do with you, you will remain here in the 4th Division. Be aware, if any of the people in this room find you dangerous or threatening to our existence in anyway, we will dispose of you in one way or another. If that is not the case then you will be placed into one of the squads and follow the orders of a captain. Do I make myself clear?"

Tsukiko gave no notion that she was even listening and continued to stare blankly at her hands resting on the white bed sheets. Though she was listening intently to him. She understood that this place, whatever it was, was no joke.

"Very well then," he concluded, "I gave you my fair warning. Meeting adjourned. You may all leave,"

One by one, people began to shuffle out of the room without so much as a second glance to her. Renji attempted to stay, but was 'shooed' out of the room by Unohana-taichou. She claimed that so much excitement in one day, for someone in her condition, was exhausting and that she needed a lot of rest. Reluctantly, he left and followed his captain.

Unohana was about to leave the room as well, but was stopped with a tug of her sleeve, "…" Unohana chuckled lightly at her pained expression.

"What is it? Am I worthy enough for a response?" She smiled and chuckled softly at Tsukiko.

"I didn't mean that," she said quickly but softly, "I was just…scared I guess. I didn't mean that part," She looked down and to the side, somewhat ashamed of her own actions.

"I understand," Unohana replied softly, "What did you need?"

"Ano…etto…do you know where my hair tie went?"

"I'm sorry, but you weren't brought here with a hair tie," She replied solemnly, "If you want I could fetch you another one?"

"No! No, that's alright. Don't trouble yourself," She replied quickly, "I'm going to sleep anyway. It'll just fall out,"

Unohana nodded and left her to rest, turning off the lights on the way out, leaving Tsukiko to drift into a peaceful slumber.

**T S U K I**

Tsukiko's eyes flew open in an instant. She gasped for breath and sat up, clutching her chest in order to calm down. She wiped the sweat from her brow and slowed her breathing to an even pace. She calmed herself, telling her mind that it was just a dream. The light in her room was rather dim, despite the moon outside. She got up, her long hair pooling down to her waist, and opened the door to the outside.

She looked up and frowned. The moon was in it's waning crescent stage. The outside garden and pond wasn't nearly as beautiful as is should've been, had the moon been brighter. Her sleeping robe didn't glow in the night along with her cream colored skin. She sighed and dreaded the next night, but couldn't wait until morning. The nightmare wouldn't allow her to got back to sleep on the nearly moonless night.

Despite her injuries (which she never really worried about in the first place), she began to climb onto the roof of 4th Division headquarters and enjoy the cloudless night. Tsukiko decided she wanted to meditate, but found it rather depressing without either one of her zanpakutou to communicate with. Even if were within a close distance (such as her lap), Tsukiko was never much of the meditation type and would've found it rather difficult to communicate anyway.

Her stomach grumbled in protest halfway through her meditation session. She ignored it the first ten minutes, but after that, gave up on trying to meditate completely. She wondered how many more hours it would be until everyone woke up.

**K O**

"Miss Tsukiko?" Hanatarou knocked softly on her bedroom door, "Miss Tsukiko, are you awake? I brought you breakfast?" He entered the room, deciding to just leave it for her until she awoke. However what he found wasn't what he'd expected. In fact he found nothing at all! "Ah! Miss Tsukiko?! Where'd you go!? Oh man, I'm gonna get in so much trouble!"

He set the tray down and looked all around the room for her. He heard giggling and turned around. Nothing. He heard it again and turned around sharply. The giggle fit became more consistent as he looked around the room for the source. He backed up at the door leading to the gardens (hardly noticing the fact that it was open) and scratched his head in confusion. A soft tap landed on his shoulder a few times. He turned around sharply.

"Ahh!" He flung himself half across the room, utterly shocked at Tsukiko being so close to his face and upside down no less. Still upside down, she smiled cheerily and waved from where she was hanging. Hanatarou sighed with relief, "Oh man. I thought I was in big trouble! Would you mind not going off like that? I don't wanna get yelled at for not taking care of you properly," he smiled sheepishly, but stopped abruptly as a realization made its way into his mind, "Whoa! What are you doing?! You're going to re-open your wounds! Get down from there please!"

Tsukiko rolled her eyes and smiled. She climbed back up, turning herself right side up, and jumped down from the rooftop. Hanatarou forced her to sit down while he checked on her wounds. While he was unwrapping the bandages, she grabbed a piece of bread from the tray and began to munch on it happily.

"That's strange…" He said to himself quietly, and then spoke up, "Your wounds…there completely healed!" Tsukiko nodded and threw the bandages off of her stomach and closed the lower half of her sleeping robe, "But-But how?! Those were serious wounds! And you were only unconscious for a few days before you woke up!"

Tsukiko stared at him, studying him once more. He sunk under her gaze and became uncomfortable. He was about to ask what she wanted when she spoke up, "Hana…tarou…-kun, right?" He nodded and she took a sip of tea, eyes lingering on the ceiling in thought.

"That's a little long," she frowned, "Can I call you 'Tarou-kun?'" She smiled at him. He was shocked for a moment, but recovered quickly and nodded, "Tarou-kun!" She smiled excitedly, "You're so cute! Haha!"

Hanatarou blushed a deep shade of crimson and took the now empty tray and left.

Tsukiko smiled sheepishly and leaned back on the futon. Her hand landed on a different kind of fabric than the bed sheets. She looked next to her and found the robes she had been wearing before. They were the same as what most of the people she saw wore. She quickly got dressed in her black kimono and brushed out her hair. She never liked it so long, but having it short was just as burdensome as long hair. With short hair one could never move it out of the way completely like putting it up in a ponytail, like one could with long hair.

Tsukiko sighed, figuring it would do for now, and ran out of the room. She used the door to the garden, so as not to attract too much attention. She smiled to herself, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face and the wind in her hair as she ran through the squad barracks. She didn't know her way around, and technically she didn't really care, so as long as she found some food and most people left her be. Her jog turned into a light walk as she stopped to take in her surroundings for a change.

"Waaaaiiit! Get back here! If you fly away I'm the one that gets in trouble!" Tsukiko stopped in her tracks, hearing a voice call out, though she knew it wasn't for her since she hadn't recognized the voice in the slightest. She looked to the right to see a boy with short black hair and a small hair decoration hanging from the left side of his head. His eyebrows looked very similar to Renji's, but were not as elaborate. He was chasing after a black swallow tailed butterfly.

Tsukiko held out her finger, just barely. Instantly the butterfly landed on her finger. The boy came running up to her, panting and trying to catch his breath.

"Thanks!" He grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Suddenly he was kicked out of her line of sight.

"Learn to control them on your own idiot!" Renji yelled at the kid and turned to her, "Sorry, I guess," he held out his finger to the butterfly, but it merely flew off of Tsukiko's finger and back inside the 6th Division squad barracks, "Hmph, whatever," he turned back to Tsukiko, "What are you doing all the way out here? You're supposed to be in the 4th Division recovering,"

"Who knows," she shrugged her shoulders, "I just felt like going for a walk," She realized that he was pretty tall. Not extremely tall, but still tall enough so that she had to tilt her head to meet his gaze. She stood just about up to his shoulders at highest.

"Gah," He rubbed the back of his head in annoyance.

"Abarai…Renji-kun right?" She tilted her head slightly.

"Yeah, but that's Abarai fuku-taichou to you, rookie," he smirked and patted her head. She pouted at him and swatted his hand away.

"Renji-kun," She emphasized just to get on his nerves, "Do you happen to know where my zanpakutou are?" His expression turned serious.

"Yeah. They're in Yamamoto-taichou's possession at the moment. I'm afraid you'll have to go to him if you want them back,"

"Yamamoto-taichou? That old guy that has enough beard hair to give to his bald scalp?"

Although, as much as Renji wanted to laugh at her description of the 1st Division captain, he didn't because he knew the consequences with his own captain if he were caught. Instead he pretended to be angry with her (just enough so she could tell he wasn't seriously pissed), "Yes! And show some respect damn it!"

Tsukiko chuckled at his reaction, "Sooooo….how do I get there?"

"Damn it," he sighed, "Alright. Follow me then. You're lucky there's another meeting that I have to go to with all the other captains and vice captains. Don't lag or I'm leaving you!" He called over his shoulder.

Tsukiko gladly trailed behind him. While on their way there she decided to play a game and match her footsteps with his. She followed in his shadow, matching their footsteps. Every so often Renji would here one step out of line, indicating that she was having slight difficulties keeping up with his strides. He smirked at her childish games and kept walking. Once they reached the doors to the meeting room, Renji purposely stopped abruptly.

"Oomph!" She collided with his back and staggered backward a bit, "You could've given a warning or something,"

"Heh," He laughed at her and proceeded into the room, his expression changing into a serious one.

"Abarai fuku-taichou," Yamamoto's raspy voice drifted through the long hallway, "I do not remember requesting you to bring the ryoka girl,"

"My deepest apologies," Renji bowed, "However, Tsukiko-san has requested the return of her zanpakutou,"

Tsukiko stood proudly and confidently as Yamamoto studied her closely. Finally he spoke up, "Unohana-taichou, how are her wounds healing?"

"A report from seat number four, Yamada Hanatarou, told me that all her wounds have been completely healed without a trace of ever being there," She told him respectfully.

"I see…" The room was silent for a moment longer. Tsukiko, however was rather impatient at the moment. Most of the times, she could be an extremely patient person, but at the moment she had very little. Yamamoto spoke up once more, "If that is the case, then I will return to you both of your zanpakuou on one condition,"

"And what might that be?" Tsukiko folded her arms defensively.

"I request a demonstration of your power at this very moment,"

"Eh?" She looked up suddenly, with interest, "Why?"

"I wish to observe the extent of you powers. If you are truly a threat to us then I would like to know. If I see fit then observing your skills will assist me in assigning you to a squad,"

"What if I don't want to? Be in a squad I mean," Tsukiko asked with caution. Sure he was an old man, but she knew her place and when to take a situation seriously.

"Then I'm afraid you leave us with no choice but to strip you of your powers and exile you from within our walls," he confessed gravely. Renji laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with curiosity, but he was looking straight ahead instead of at her. Tsukiko took this as a sort of 'don't do that' gesture. She sighed and nodded.

"Alright. I'll allow you to observe me if you give back my zanpakutou and supply a worthy opponent,"

"Very well then," he nodded in agreement, "Since you seem so well acquainted with the 6th Division, I will allow you to spar with Kuchiki-taichou," He looked over to Kuchiki Byakuya and gestured him to move forward, "Kuchiki-taichou, if you will please participate,"

Grudgingly, he agreed, "Very well then," He stepped forward and faced her. A servant made his way to Tsukiko and handed her both of her zanpakutou. She picked up the one with the blue and black hilt and strapped it first to her back, then she took the one with the red and black hilt and placed it over the first sword.

Kuchiki Byakuya glared at her. He hadn't like the way the girl treated him from the moment she'd regained consciousness in the squad 4 barracks. She'd treated him with the utmost disrespect and, from what he could tell, didn't act very proper. To have to fight someone he disliked was both appreciated and tedious.

She turned her back to him and began to walk out the door.

"Where are you going?" Kuchiki's voice was filled with venom.

"You don't expect me to fight in here do you?" She held up both of her hands in the air, "There's no room in here! I can hardly breath! I'm going outside,"

His eye twitched. She was no doubt rude.

**A M A**

"Ready, Kuchiki-san? I'm not gonna go easy. I don't particularly like you after all," Her hand gripped the sword with the red and white hilt.

"How rude of you to address me so familiarly," He gripped his own sword, glaring at her, "And you continue to offend me,"

Tsukiko waved the hand that wasn't gripping the sword around, "Really, I don't smell anything," Her tone was flat, but amused. Several of the captains and vice captains tried their best to hide their amusement.

"You'll pay for your insolence, girl," He drew his sword, but remained calm.

"And you said I was the one that was offensive! At least I used your name and not 'boy'! Geeze!" She closed her eyes as the last few words escaped her mouth. Feeling a sudden shift in the atmosphere, her eyes darted open as she whipped around and blocked his sword with her own.

"You did well to keep your hand on the hilt of your sword the entire time you spoke. I'll give you that," He grudgingly complimented, "However, that won't be enough if you're going to face me,"

He struck at her once more, forcing her to doge the attack from such a close distance. Tsukiko jumped back a few yards. She smirked, knowing it was the perfect time of day to use this zanpakutou in particular. She raised her sword above her head. The shinigami watched as the blade grew red with heat and, for a moment, it appeared as if it would burst into flames at any moment.

Tsukiko smirked to herself, "Howl, Amaterasu!" She swung her blade down heavily in the direction of Kuchiki Byakuya. From the tip of her zanpakutou emerged an eruption of flames that took from of a large canine. It roared as it attacked Kuchiki and engulfed him in flames, catching him off guard from the command she took to her zanpakutou. For a moment she wasn't sure if she had truly hit him, but made not notion to move.

"Scatter, Senbon Zakura," She heard his voice from behind her. Quickly she turned around, ready to defend, but unprepared for the attack. She barely had enough time to block her vital points with her own body parts, before many smaller swords, in the form of falling sakura petals, pierced her body. She skidded back several feet, but stood her ground.

Tsukiko cursed to herself and remained in a defensive stance. He scoffed at her and attacked using Senbon Zakura once more. This time she was prepared for the attack and swung Amaterasu in a circular like motion around her body, engulfing herself in flames. Senbon Zakura hit the bubble of flames and bounced off from the amount of heat.

"You'll have to come out of there eventually," He taunted, "Your zanpakutou may not burn you, but you must still be extremely warm in there. Not to mention the amount of air you'll need," Kuchiki was cut off as the flames darted forward into the canine-like creature again and attacked him. This time he was barely able to doge it.

Tsukiko removed the barrier of flames and glared at him.

"Enough!" Shouted Yamamoto. Kuchiki and Tsukiko dropped their stances with a bit of relief, "Tsukiko-san, I am somewhat greatly impressed by the power you possess, but you have yet to show any of us the ability of your second zanpakutou,"

Tsukiko sighed inwardly, "I apologize, Yamamoto-taichou, but if you truly wish to see my second zanpakutou then I'm afraid you will have to wait until the next full moon,"

"May I ask why?"

"Certain abilities each of my zanpakutou possess. Besides, you wish to see me at my best, correct?," She stated simply.

"Very well then. Kuchiki-taichou, I greatly appreciate your help and am sorry if I have troubled you," Kuchiki nodded and gave no hint if he was angry or not, "On the condition of seeing Tsukiko-san's second zanpakutou, all who are witness here today will meet back here at the next full moon. Understood?"

"Hai!" Everyone echoed in unison and dismissed themselves. Renji walked up to her angrily.

"What the hell was that?!" He yelled in her face.

"What?"

"Your zanpakutou!"

"I believe Amaterasu is a wolf, Renji-kun," She stated simply.

"No! I don't mean that! I meant the command you used!"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"God you're freakin' getting on my nerves," he mumbled then shouted, "Is that seriously your command?!"

"Yes! Why is it such a big deal?! What are you getting all worked up for?!" Tsukiko glared up at him. He glared right back, but broke off eye contact after a minute of silence.

"Nothing. Never mind," He turned away from her and began to walk, "Are you comin'? Or can do you already know the way back to squad four on your own?" He turned his head to look at her, quickly, then turned his attention back to the path ahead of him.

"What the hell?!" She ran to catch up to him.

"What are you yelling abo- HEY!" Renji definitely wasn't expecting a kick in the rear, "What the hell's your problem?!"

"Me?! What about you?! You're the one getting all worked up for nothing and started yelling in my face! Then you walk away without so much as an apology, much less an explanation as to why you started yelling in the first place!"

Renji looked down at her angry form. Her blood red irises pierced his own brown colored ones without mercy. Her nostrils were flared slightly and her cheeks were puffed out in a sort of pout. Her hands were on her hips and her chest stood out a bit more. Renji couldn't help but avert his eyes away from her own and let them travel a bit further down.

Tsukiko saw him avert his eyes down to her chest area. She closed her eyes, with one twitching, and clenched her fist, "I'm up here," When he didn't stop looking at her chest she grew even more disgusted with him. Instead of slapping him across the face like any normal woman's reaction, she ended up punching him right in the face, "You jerk! When I tell you to look back up, you look back up! Ugh! Pervert!" She stormed off before he could sputter out a single word.

** T E R A S U**

"It's a good thing I found you wandering around, Miss Tsukiko, these wounds aren't serious, but they could get infected," Hanatarou lectured her as he patched up a few simple wounds.

"Yeah, thanks Tarou-kun," Her thoughts were still on the incident that had occurred not too long ago, so Hanatarou found it a bit odd in the manner her 'thank you' came out, "I'm sorry. I just had an encounter with a pervert," Hanatarou could practically see the pounding anger mark on her forehead as she turned her head away from him to avoid glaring at him.

"Haha! I see. You probably met a squad eleven member. They're usually like that. Most of them anyway," He quickly packed up the medical supplies he used and began to leave the door, "I have to go right now, but if you need anything go ahead and ask one of the other squad members around here!" He stopped abruptly in the doorway, "Oh and if you go out, please be careful and avoid certain squads,"

Before Tsukiko could ask which ones, he'd left. She sighed and figured if he wasn't going to tell her which ones then she had no boundaries as to which squads she visited. She stretched as she got up and left to find a bit of entertainment. Tsukiko grew bored when she couldn't find anyone to talk to, or watch for amusement. She wandered all around the seireitei, but found it to be quite dull, especially considering the fact that she knew almost no one there. The few people she did know where quite busy at the moment with one thing or another. She did the only thing that was left to do.

She left the city walls. Though they were, in fact, quite high, she found a tall building made of the same material as the wall and jumped off it. With a bit of help from both her zanpakutou she was able to make it over the wall. Tsukiko jumped from tree to tree, faster than the normal human eye could see, eyes quickly scanning the area. She soon wandered into a town, which she remembered were labeled in districts.

Many people were in the process of their daily routines. They stopped to watch the amazing spectacle of a shinigami running on the roof of their houses. Tsukiko stopped dead in her tracks, finding what she had been searching for in the first place. She used shunpo to make sure nobody caught her and disappeared to the farthest edge of the town.

She found a nice quite spot by a river bank, next to it a tree. The tree was bare and had no leaves, but she didn't care much, so as long as it was sturdy enough to hold her. She jumped up on the highest branch it would allow her to sit on without snapping and sat comfortably. She grabbed the red ribbon from her pocket and began to tie her hair up. What people didn't know won't hurt them right? What's one ribbon gone, more or less? Tsukiko, on her journey of survival of the fittest, saw no wrong in her actions. She always did what she had to, to survive.

She sighed with content as the air around her grew much cooler, now that her hair was out of her way. She let two strands fall loose over her ears, one for each side. These so happened to be the red streaks in her hair. She smiled and leaned back against the tree, but got the feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt as if she were being watched.


	2. Chapter 2

Mori: (cries) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! REVIEW! (cries more)

**M O O N **

Renji was pissed. Not just mad, he was genuinely pissed off. She had violated orders (not that he cared very much) and gone outside of seireitei. Normally he wasn't one to care very much, but they had sent him to go and retrieve her when he finally got his break for the day! He was going to kill her when he found out where she was. He sensed her spiritual pressure just slightly. He took no chances and went followed it.

Renji landed by a local resident and hid in its shadows. He was about to jump out and yell at her, when the sudden image caught him off guard. Tsukiko was laying back comfortably against the tree in one of the high branches, singing to herself. The setting sun illuminated her skin and almost seems to sing along with her. The sky turned a mix of many colors. From orange, to pink, to red, to purple. Renji couldn't help but stare in awe at the sight before him. Her gentle voice rang in his ears with ease, hitting each note at their precise tone. Once her voice died down, he snapped out of his little trance and blushed. He cleared his throat and stepped forward. She still didn't notice his presence, despite his attempt to get her attention.

He used shunpo and appeared on the branch opposite of her, "Yo," Tsukiko, surprised by his sudden appearance, screamed and was close to falling off the branch. She would've fell off the branch if Renji hadn't of reacted as quickly as he did. Tsukiko sighed with relief, knowing she was saved, and noted that Renji was pretty strong to hold her around the waist with one arm, "Ya know," He struggled to pull her back up, "You're heavier than you look," He set her down on the same branch.

"What was that?! You jerk! You don't just say that to someone! Especially to a woman!" She raised her fist to him.

"Well excuse me! Aren't women always going on about how dishonest men are?!" He threw at her, "Suck it up! You're not all that sensitive," He folded his arms inside his kimono and turned his head away from her.

"Hpmh. Fine. Whatever," She did the same and turned her head away from him as well.

"You're in a hell of a lot of trouble," He finally said after a moment of silence, "You weren't supposed to leave the seireitei walls,"

"Please," She scoffed, "It's not like I got anywhere else to go. What good what it do me to run away,"

"I can see that, but unfortunately for yourself you'll have to follow the orders given to you," He explained with a serious tone, "You can just go run off without permission. Even we're not allowed to go outside seireitei without permission,"

"Then why are you here?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"They sent me over here to get your stinkin' ass," He glared at her, "And while I was on my only break for the day, too," He closed his eyes in annoyance and grit his teeth.

"Oh c'mon!" She waved it off with a grin, "It can't be all that bad! Look," She threw her arms up in the air, "See! The day's almost over!"

"You have no idea. Being a vice captain…sucks,"

"Then why are you one?" She tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Because it's a much high level in power on the food chain, Tsuki,"

"Eh? 'Tsuki'? What gives you the right to call me that?!" She pouted.

"Well you refuse to call me 'Abaria fuku-taichou' so I'll refuse to call you by your given name," Renji smirked.

"Yeah well at least I still call you 'Renji' and not…." She stopped dead in her tracks.

"What?" He looked at her crimson eyes, seeing a mischievous glint in them, "Hey, what's with that look? I don't like it,"

"Nothing…." She turned her head away and smiled mischievously, "Ren-kun,"

"WHAT?! Why you…" Renji's face turned red with anger, "You…you…"

She laughed at his reaction and hopped down from the tree. Renji didn't fail to notice the bright shade of red ribbon waving around in her hair as she jumped off. He followed suit and looked at her with his expression back to normal, "Where did you get that ribbon?"

"Hm? Oh, I took it!" She fiddled with it a bit, "I don't think this shad of red goes very nicely though. It clashes a bit too much with my hair and eyes,"

"You…took it…?" He said almost as if he couldn't believe his ears.

"Yeah, why? I didn't get caught or anything!" She added quickly.

"That's not the point!" He grabbed her arm and took the ribbon out of her hair, "Jeez! If you needed one you could've just asked someone around seireitei for one!"

"Hey," she yelled in protest as he began to drag her down many streets, people watching them all the while, "Where are you taking me? And give back that ribbon!"

Renji let her go roughly and walked up to a counter full of many different kinds of hair ties. He slammed the ribbon down on the counter, "I'd like to buy this please," Renji's voice was pained. As if he couldn't believe he was buying something for this girl. He paid for in and the man wrapped it up in a bag, neatly, and handed it to him.

"Here," He threw it in the air so she could catch it and began to walk off. Tsukiko fumbled with it, but caught it. She ran up to him, ribbon in her mouth, and attempting to put up another ponytail.

"Why'd you do that? He never would've known!" Her speech was muffled by the ribbon held fast on her lips.

"You don't just take things, Tsuki," His voice was annoyed, "The people out here have almost nothing. Don't make it worse for them,"

Tsukiko couldn't care less, because she had been one of them. She knew the difficulties of surviving, but also how much easier it was than living properly. That wasn't the reason she felt a bit guilty, "You were saving up for something…weren't you?"

Renji glanced down at her, slightly surprised, "Yeah so? How'd you know that?"

"Your wallet was packed with money," She stared straight ahead to avoid his gaze, "And you didn't seem to happy about buying it," Her ponytail was now complete and its spikiness surpassed even Renji's ponytail, "So I kinda figured as much,"

"Hm,"

"Sorry,"

"Don't be," Was all he said before the gate to seireitei opened before them. As they were walking through squad barracks, Tsukiko hatched an idea.

"I know!" She clapped her hands together at the thought.

"What?" He looked at her strangely.

"I'll help you finish the rest of your work as payment for the ribbon!" She turned and smiled at him.

"What?! Are you insane? Do you even know how the organizing system works?"

"No, but I'm sure I can learn in no time at all! I'm a pretty quick learner,"

"Nuh-uh! No way!" He crossed his arms in an 'X' pattern to emphasize his rejection, "I don't have time to be teaching you shit! You'll only make my paper work more difficult for me! Go help squad four. Maybe they'll teach you a thing or two if you're lucky," He waved her off.

"But-"

"No! I've got work to do! Bye," He shunpoed out of her sight before she could say anything else. Without even realizing it she was already at the fourth division. She sighed heavily and went in. She dragged her feet heavily on the hardwood floor. Tsukiko looked up, suddenly noticing curses floating out of one room in particular. Cautiously, she made her way over to the door.

She peered inside. At a paper flooded desk, was a man with blonde hair slicked back and box framed glasses. His jaw was tight and square; curse words flowing out of them ever other second. Tsukiko cautiously stepped inside.

"Ano…"

"WHAT?!" He shouted out, but his face quickly reverted back to normal seeing she didn't have any more paper work with her, "Ah, sorry. I mistook you for a messenger. Did you need something, Miss…"

"Tsukiko,"

"…"

"The ryoka girl," She gave her other nickname for his blank expression.

"Ah! Yes! I remember you! The bleeder, yes," He adjusted his glasses and resumed to write out his paper work, "Need something?"

Tsukiko got over the irritation of being labeled 'the bleeder' as well as 'ryoka girl' and turned her attention back to him, "No. It just looked like you were having a bit of trouble….need help?"

He looked up, stopping his work suddenly, "Why would you want to help? No offense,"

"I dunno," She shrugged, "I'm kinda bored for one thing and for another I feel kinda useless just wondering around all the time while everyone else is kinda busy," He looked over her carefully, but sighed and quickly gave in. He was in no mood to argue with anyone over the mountain of paperwork he had in front of him.

"Very well then," He gestured to the chair closest to his desk, "Do you know the organizing system?" Tsukiko shook her head, "The documents are organized by dates and squad numbers. Put them in highest to lowest. Highest squad being number one lowest being number thirteen. Dates from latest to recent. Understood?"

"Hai!" She gave him a determined nod and got to work on organizing the mess while he grabbed a random paper from the pile and continued to look through and approve it for his own captain and vice captain, "This isn't so bad," She said aloud, "I don't know what Ren-kun was complaining about not having time to teach me how to organize these things,"

"Ren-kun?"

"Hai! Abarai Renji-kun! Ren-kun!"

"You address him in such a manner?"

"Why not? He doesn't seem to show me any more respect than I do him," She shrugged off his annoyed tone as more curious.

"And why's that?" He had to admit that he was genuinely curious. Tired, but curious.

"Beats me! One minute he's yelling at me because of my zanpakutou and the next he's walking away saying 'it's nothing'," She mimicked his expression and tone.

"Really? What did he say exactly?" He continued to listen but work through his stack of papers at a much slower pace.

"I dunno, something about the command I used to release my zanpakutou. He was getting all upset over it," She frowned as she moved on to another stack of papers.

"What's your command? If you don't mind me asking,"

"'Howl'. Why? Hey, uh…Mister? You okay?" She looked over at the man she was helping as he had froze in his place.

"You're telling the truth right?" He looked up at her seriously.

"Uh…yeah…" She was afraid of the sudden change in the atmosphere.

"I can see why he'd be upset," the man chuckled, "That's the same command Abarai fuku-taichou uses for his own zanpakutou,"

"Really?" She stopped filing out of interest, "But why would he get all upset? If you as me I think he's a no good perverted jackass," She crossed her arms in annoyance.

**W I N D**

"ACHOO!" Renji sniffled and grabbled a tissue from the box nearest to him.

"Are you getting sick, Renji?" Kuchiki asked him from his desk across the room.

"I hope not. I was feeling just fine a minute ago," He grabbed another tissue as he felt another sneeze coming on.

"Just don't get me sick,"

"Y-Yes, Sir," Renji sneezed again into the tissue.

**W I N D**

"I mean what the hell kind of person looks at your chest when your talking to them?!" Tsukiko continued to rant, "Only a no good male pervert, that's who!"

**W I N D**

"ACHOO!"

**W I N D**

"Ugh! And those funky eyebrows! Who the hell did his tattoos? Or maybe he did it himself! HA"

**W I N D**

"ACHOO!" Renji laid flat across his desk, suddenly feeling all the energy drained from his body.

**W I N D**

"Ah…I'm sorry!" Tsukiko laughed nervously, "I'm over here ranting away and I don't even know your name!"

"Iemura Yasochika, third seat of squad four," He said proudly, "If I remember correctly you said your name was 'Tsukiko' correct?"

"Yep! Nice to meetcha! Well, I'm done filing so if you don't mind I'll take my leave," She bowed respectfully.

"Ah, wait just a moment please," He said quickly before she left the room. He dug through his desk and as soon as he found what he was looking for, he threw it to her, "Here. It payment for helping me out today. It's not much, but please accept it. And also, if you want to know why Abarai fuku-taichou was so upset earlier I suggest you ask someone about it. They'll probably know the story better than I do,"

"Ah, thank you!" She smiled brightly and bowed to him once more and left the room in a hurry. She didn't really know what he meant by 'story', but she figured he needed to get back to work so she left without another word to go find someone around to talk to. Turning the corner she bumped heads with someone and staggered back slightly.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying any attention to where I was walking!"

"That's okay," Tsukiko looked to see who had run into her. Her hair was a natural white color. Much longer strands of hair (it was more of a boy's cut than anything) drifted out in certain places and were held fast with yellow clips, "Um…I'm Tsukiko,"

"Oh!" Her face lit up, "I know you! You're the ryoka girl!" She laughed slightly.

"Yeah," Tsukiko laughed nervously so as not to be rude.

"I'm Vice Captain Isane Kotetsu! Nice meeting you," Tsukiko concluded that she was friendly enough.

"Ah…I suppose you're a bit busy then, being a vice captain," Tsukiko held her fist to her lips to mentally block her shyness.

"Actually, no I'm not at the moment," Isane smiled, "Is there something you need?"

Tsukiko waved her arms around frantically, "No! No! I just- I was just wondering if you'd spend a few moments with me is all," She blushed at the way it had come out.

Isane laughed whole-heartedly and agreed, "Come. Lets sit outside on this cool night," Isane slid open a nearby door and sat on the small ledge, "What is it?" She looked at Tsukiko's hesitant form, "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing!" Tukiko replied quickly and sat down next to Isane. Isane saw her worried expression as her eyes darted left and right before sitting down, but she brushed it off and decided not to ask.

"So did you wanna ask something in particular or just talk?" Isane swung her legs back and forth over the ledge and leaned back on her hands.

"Ano…I kinda wanted to ask about some story,"

"A story?"

"Hai. Iemura-san said something about a story concerning zanpakutou," Tsukiko folded her knees to her chest and hugged them as she watched Isane look up at the endless sea of stars and ponder a bit on the question.

"I know one or two stories. There's one concerning true love,"

"What's that one about?" Tsukiko's interest was suddenly peeked. She'd seen people together while in the process of 'surviving' and often wondered about it. She would see them look into one another's eyes and watch as their lips slowly met and often thought about what it felt like. She was uniquely interested in the subject she didn't know much about.

"Eh? Uh…well lets see," Isane folded her legs, but continued to lean back, "It goes something like this: At one point, a long time ago when even the shinigami academy didn't exist, there was a man who's life goal was to be the strongest of all the shinigami. He worked day and night to improve his fighting skills and would take any opponent that challenged him. At night he sharpened and polished his zanpakutou back to perfection. Many women loved him for his gorgeous looks and incredible strength, but he refused to love a single one,"

"Why's that? I bet he could've gotten one easy," Tsukiko rolled her eyes at her version of the typical male.

"True, but whenever a woman would ask for his love he would reply to them 'Unless I grip the sword I cannot protect you. While gripping the sword I cannot embrace you' (1). With that said he shooed them off and continued to practice with his zanpakutou. One woman however, refused to give up. She had truly fallen in love with the man and wanted to be by his side even in death. So she made her decision to train to become as great a warrior as he and fight by his side. Day and night she tried her hardest to become strong enough for him to notice her. Not once did he look her way,"

"What did she do then?" Isane paused and smiled at how childish Tsukiko was beginning to sound.

"Well. One day an arrancar attacked the man,"

"What's an arrancar?"

"Haha! It's a much stronger hollow that can control menos. So anyway an arrancar attacked him. He did what he would normally do and began to fight it off. It wasn't long before he began to think that he was no match for the hollow. His body had many cuts and bruises and he was greatly fatigued. He thought he was finished when a command rang in his ears. The girl came rushing in with her own zanpakutou and charged at the monster. For a moment the man was furious. She had stolen his zanpakutou's release command and interfered in his battle. But as she was fighting, he began to notice how graceful and beautiful she looked. He was even impressed with her fighting skills. However, the arrancar grew frustrated with the woman and summoned several menos from the hollow world to assist him. The man, with a new desire to protect her, jumped in and turned his back to hers. Surprised, the woman asked what he was doing. 'I am allowing you to fight by my side as an equal' he said. The woman couldn't find the right words to express her gratitude. She was so happy that she had gotten what she'd wanted in the first place. Saying no more, they fought together. Their battle was long and brutal. They eventually drove the menos and arrancar off, but died together in the process," Isane finished.

"…"

"What?" Isane looked over at Tsukiko, who was still hugging her knees.

"That wasn't a very happy ending! I thought stories were supposed to have happy endings!" She whined.

"Haha! It's not just a story! It's a legend! Not all legends have great endings!" Isane laughed lightly at her expression, "Besides here's something that I think you'll find interesting!" Isane winked and held a finger up to make a point.

"Hm?" Tsukiko was suddenly curious again.

"They say that if two people have the same zanpakutou or zanpakutou release command, then they're the reincarnation of the two lovers!" Isane blushed slightly.

"What?!" Tsukiko's face turned red with embarrassment. Thankfully Isane didn't know why, "That's kind of stupid,"

"Hey wait! Where are you going?" Tsukiko looked at Isane get up and stretch.

"I'm a bit sleepy if you don't mind!" Isane smiled and waved goodnight, "'Night!"

Tsukiko pouted and sat there. She sighed after a few moments of silence and figured pouting would get her nowhere, especially since there was no one around. She thought about the story Isane told her and wondered if it was true at all. Tsukiko shook the thoughts out of her head. There was no way it could be! If that was true then that would make her and Renji…lovers? Tsukiko shook her head again in protest of the ridiculous thoughts entering her mind.

She looked up at the vast sea of stars, not a moon in sight, and sighed.

'_Still'_ She thought, searching desperately for the moon, _'It'd be nice to have someone to make these moonless nights a bit more bearable.'_

Tsukiko jumped. Suddenly seeing something from the corner of her eye. She turned her head sharply and found nothing there. She looked around the court yard a few times frantically, before scooting back into squad four, her hand on the hilt of her sword the entire time. Once she was inside, she shut the door and swiftly headed back to her room. She locked her doors and sat against the wall with her hand on the hilt of Amaterasu. Waiting, silently watching, incase something decided to attack her.

**C H I L D**

"Tsukiko-neesan! I have breakfast for you!" Hanatarou tried the door but found it locked, "Tsukiko-neesan?" He heard the door unlock, but didn't expect what happened next. She darted out of the room, leaving him to try and balance the tray of food.

It was barely dawn and the shadows were receding slowly, but she knew they were still out there, waiting for a chance to strike her down before the sun rose. Tsukiko's eyes were bloodshot, aside form their usual crimson color, and had bags under her eyes, complete with dark circles. It was clear she hadn't gotten any sleep. She pushed several people out of her way and sliced open a wall next to them. For a moment the spectators were confused by her actions, but didn't have too long to think before having to cover their ears. A horrible shriek filled the air and broke several eardrums.

From the shadows emerged several more of the creatures. They had no definite shape, but were shadows nonetheless. They glared at her with spite and shrieked again. Tsukiko was on the verge of falling asleep, due to the high pitched frequency they emitted and the fact that she didn't sleep at all last night in the first place, but she stood her ground and unsheathed Amaterasu.

"What are they?" One of the shinigami asked in awe.

"They don't look like hollows," Another one added.

They shrieked again as they moved forward to attack her. Raven smirked, "Gotcha," she muttered to herself and held Amaterasu over her head, "Howl! Amaterasu!" Instead of swinging Amaterasu at them, she remained still and allowed Amaterasu to illuminate the area. The creatures gave off a horrible cry of pain. One disintegrated, while the others quickly escaped to the hollow world before they ended up just like their partner.

"Whoa. No way," The small crowd of shinigami that had witnessed the spectacle before them, stared in awe.

"Her zanpakutou's awesome!"

"Who is she? What squad did she come from?"

"Isn't she that ryoka girl?"

"Hey, I heard her say 'Howl' as a command!"

"What? Isn't that Abarai fuku-taichou's command for his zanpakutou?"

Tsukiko heard ever word they said and the exact tone of voice they used them in. The problem was that she was too tired to care enough to turn around and yell at them. She staggered slightly, struggling to remain conscious, but failed. She fell to the ground on her knees, then landed on the ground completely. As soon as her head hit the floor, she was out like a light, taking comfort in sleeping in the warm sun. Faintly, she could here panicked voices.

"What's going on here?!" A feminine voice called out.

"Hinamori fuku-taochou!"

"What happened? Why is the ryoka girl on the floor?!"

Tsukiko loved the sound of silence.

**B E C K O N I N G**

"Is she going to be okay?What happened?" A masculine voice asked, his voice extremely calm, but hiding a bit of worry.

"She's fine. I think she's just exhausted. She can stay here and rest if she wants," Hinamori smiled gently at Renji, "By the looks of it she hadn't slept all night,"

"That's fine but…" Renji clenched his fist and grit his teeth, "Why did you call _me_ here?!"

"We've decided to list you under emergency contacts!" Hinamori stated with a finger in the air to indicate her point.

"What?! Why me?!" Renji asked in a sudden outburst at the top of his lungs. Tsukiko, sensing a slight change in the atmosphere, jolted up right.

"Renji! Now look what you did! You woke her up! Geese!" Hinamori gave him a warning glare and went to Tsukiko's side, "Are you alright, Tsukiko-san?"

"Hm? I'm fine," Tsukiko replied groggily, "Who are you?"

"Vice captain Hinamori Momo! Nice to meet you!" She smiled sweetly. Tsukiko smiled at her childish face. She looked up further, sensing someone else in the room.

"Ren-kun? Why are you here?" Tsukiko was still groggy. Before Renji could throw out a reply at her, another man entered the room. His hair was short, wavy and a light brown color. His thick box framed glasses held most of the hair out of his face, revealing dark brown eyes. Over his shinigami robe was a captain's cloak.

"Ah, good you're awake," He smiled at Tsukiko, "How are you feeling, Tsukiko-san?" Tsukiko jumped slightly at the use of her name, but nodded, "That's good. I am Captain Aizen Souske of the 5th Squad Division. It's nice meeting you,"

Tsukiko thought he was extremely polite and kind, but there was something about him that irked her. Ever sense in her body told her to stay away from him. She could almost hear Amaterasu growl from her sheathed position.

"I'm sorry to have to inform you of this, Tsukiko-san, but we've all been called to another meeting due to the attack earlier today. Yamamoto-taichou wishes to speak to you as well, upon hearing several reports from the witnesses," They nodded and followed him to the meeting room.

Tsukiko, though a bit more rested than before, was still extremely tired and having trouble keeping up with the rest of them. Twice already she almost tripped over her own feet. Renji was getting slightly annoyed with her, but said nothing as he looked at her exhausted face ever so often.

Even after they were in the hall, the cool temperature in the room kept trying to lull her to sleep. She continued to nod off, no matter how many times Renji nudged her or how many glares Kuchiki sent her way.

"Tsukiko-san!" Tsukiko jumped at the sound of her name and froze on the spot.

"H-Hai?" She looked in the 1st captain's direction.

"My apologies for you having to listen to an old man rant," His tone was somewhat bothered by her constant nodding off, "But I asked you a question,"

"My sincerest apologies, Yamamoto-taichou," Tsukiko bowed to him.

Yamamoto sighed inwardly and repeated himself, "What attacked you today earlier at dawn?"

"I don't know," She answered honestly.

"But yet you know how to fight them, find them and even sense them?"

"I've encountered them many times before,"

"And you don't know what they are," he said in a matter of fact tone.

"No, I do not," A small gasp emitted from the group.

Isane stepped forward, "Yamamoto-taichou, please forgive my rudeness! But if I may ask one question to Tsukiko-san,"

Yamamoto nodded, "Very well then,"

Isane turned toward Tukiko with a serious expression written on her face, "Tsukiko-san, last night when I talked to you, I asked you to sit with me just outside of the building. I noticed you acted a bit strange and even…cautious as I asked you to sit with me. Was the reason you were so reluctant to do so the same as what happened this morning?"

Tsukiko silently cursed her for being so observant, "Yes," There was a hushed mutter of whispers floating in the air.

"Are you saying you knew about them, Tsukiko-san?" Yamamoto asked, annoyed.

"Yes," Tsukiko was also becoming annoyed, "As I've said, I've encountered them before,"

"Failing to warn the seireitei about an opposing threat violates several different laws, Tsukiko-san!"

"It's not a threat!" She snapped. The room stood quite still. Most of the people in the room hadn't heard someone yell at Yamamoto-taichou, "At least not to you it isn't. As far back as I can remember, these _things_ only go after me and no one else, even if the person happens to be two feet away! I don't know what they are, but they are definitely smart enough to learn!"

"How so?" The old man was now quite interested.

"At first they came out at me every night. They apparently don't like the light," She smirked remembering earlier that morning, "But as time went on they began to thin out their groups. Some would attack on a regular night, but…" she hesitated in continuing, "They mainly make their appearance during the night of a new moon, when the night is darkest,"

"Hmph. And why should any of this matter to them?" Kuchiki asked, sensing something hidden in her words.

The room was silent, waiting for her answer. Tsukiko bit her lip and sighed, "My second zanpakutou," she placed her fingers on the hilt of the blue and black sword, "It's name is Tsukiyomi. And it loses almost every ounce of power on the night of the new moon," She looked up angrily at Yamamoto, "This is why they corner me every new moon, or at least try to,"

The room was silent for a long time. There where many questions that hung in the air, but no one dared to speak.

"Normally, I wouldn't leave this situation be," Yamamoto began, "But if it is as you say, then seireitei will increase the power of the sekkiseki that surrounds it. If the creatures still appear by then, then I will dispatch several members of squad two to figure out the source of these creatures. But for the moment," His expression softened a bit, "I have a bit of important news. Both Central 46 and I have agreed to allow you into the Gotei 13, seeing as you yourself mean no harm. However, your actions will be monitored for a certain amount of time, to be sure of this decision,"

Tsukiko's eyes lit up at this announcement. Though she hadn't originally wanted to be a shinigami in seireitei, she had come to like the place and even grow comfortable with living there. She even grew fond of a few people she had come across.

"Thank you for such a generous decision Yamamoto-taichou!" She bowed low.

"After much thought. I, myself, have decided to assign you to squad eleven," As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire room froze over. If it weren't for the enormous amount of self control in most people, some would've shouted out in surprise. Yamamoto waved his hand to indicate he was done with announcements. Tsukiko looked around, slightly confused.

Renji walked up to her and laid a hand on her shoulder, "Good luck, Tsuki," He said grimly, but it grew into a smirk with the last few words.

"Renji, don't tease her!" Hinamori swatted at him, "Don't worry," Hinamori hugged Tsukiko close to her and began to whisper in her ear, "Stay away from the guys that give you funny looks, don't ever leave your doors unlocked, and don't let your guard down," She pulled away from Tsukiko and smiled, "Got it?"

"Uh…yea…I think so…he," She scratched her cheek and laughed nervously.

"You," Tsukiko heard a rough, masculine voice behind her as his shadow lingered far over her head, "You're the one he just placed in my squad right?" Tsukiko turned around and saw the man with the spiky bell hair and eye patch again.

'_Ah. I remember him'_ Tsukiko thought as she looked up at his towering form _'He's the one that spoke out in my room because he was so impatient…'_

"Well?"

Tsukiko snapped out of her thoughts, "Yeah! I am. I'm Tsukiko," She bowed her head slightly.

"Zaraki Kenpachi-taichou," He introduced himself. The little girl on his shoulder smiled brightly at her and waved.

"I'm Kusajishi Yachiru fuku-taichou!" She introduced herself in a bubbly manner and held out her little hand. Tsukiko just stared at it, "What are you staring at? Shake my hand! C'mon, shake it!"

"Ah…ok," Tsukiko shook her hand awkwardly.

"Yay! I like you, Tsuki-chan! Ken-chan, lets kick out baldy and make her third seat!" She turned to her captain.

"Hmph. We'll see how strong she is, but to do that we gotta get back to our squad," He turned away, "Hurry it up! I haven't got all day!" He called back to her.

"Hai!" She was about to run off with him when Renji held her back a moment, "What is it, Ren-kun?"

His expression was serious as was his tone when he spoke to her, "If any of them try anything just let me know,"

"Yeah, sure," She hesitated in answering back.

"Also there's a guy named 'Ikkaku' in your squad. He's a buddy of mine. You can trust him," Why was he giving her this information in the first place?

"…"

"What?" Tsukiko smiled sheepishly.

"Aw! Ren-kun! If you were gonna miss me you coulda just said so!" She said aloud and hugged him.

"What?! I never-!"

"Later, Ren-kun! I'll be sure to visit!" She called as she ran out of the hall, "You too, Kuchiki-taichou! I'll come visit you too!"

"Don't bother," He said under his breath; brow twitching in annoyance.

Once Tsukiko caught up with her new captain and vice captain (who were already leaving without her) she began to ask questions, "Who's 'Ikkaku'?"

"Baldy! He's the third seat! Why?" Yachiru answered and asked curiously.

"Ren-kun said they were friends," Tsukiko's foot almost slipped off the roof, but she regained her footing and caught up to them once more.

"You're clumsy!" Yachiru giggled.

"Hey," Tsukiko whined.

"Not to mention slow," Kenpachi complained, "Get on my back like Yachiru is," He ordered.

"What?! But-"

"That was an order," He glanced over to her with his good eye, scaring her into doing it.

"Hai," She swallowed her pride and latched onto his left shoulder (as Yachiru was on his right) and immediately she felt him go faster. He hopped to the ground on one foot. Tsukiko, feeling him stop, opened her eyes (which she wasn't aware that she had closed in the first place).

"Oi! Taichou! You've been getting called to a lot of meetings these days!" A rather annoyingly loud voice called out.

"Be quiet, Ikkaku, you got a new squad member to seat," Kenpachi walked up to him.

Tsukiko was about to look over his shoulder, when she was immediately being dragged down very forcefully. Yachiru was swinging on her back, attempting to get her to fall off, "Y-Yachiru-chan!" She whined, clutching harder to Kenpachi's cloak.

"Eh? What's going on out here?"

"It's so noisy! Is Yachiru fuku-taichou back already?" More and more men began to appear, curious as to what was happening.

Finally, Tsukiko couldn't hold on any longer and fell off to the side (in the direction of Yachiru's last swing). She landed on her lower back, mostly, and sat up a little more, grunting several curses in pain.

"A woman! Hey! She's got nice tits!" One of the men yelled.

"What squad is she from?! I've never seen her before! She looks pretty juicy!"

Tsukiko closed her eyes in annoyance and held up her fist at some of the comments.

"Shut up, you idiots! I'm trying to talk!" Kenpachi yelled, immediately followed by silence, "This girl's gonna be in our squad from now on. Ikkaku, I'm leaving you to find a placement for her," Kenpachi turned on his heel and walked off. He simply couldn't be bothered with such tedious things. Yachiru was hot on his trail.

"What!?" A man with a very shiny bald head yelled out. His eyes were sharp and at the corner of his eyes were pink marks that looked like a thick strip of paper. If not for his vicious appearance, he probably would've looked more like a monk, "This girl?!" he pointed to Tsukiko as she attempted to get up off the ground, but slipped on a rock and ended up on the ground once more.

Tsukiko saw the men looking at her spitefully and took a sitting position on her knees. She put her hand behind her head and laughed nervously. The man with pink eye shadow grunted , scratched the back of his neck and sighed.

"What's your name, kid?" He asked as she got up and dusted herself off.

"Tsukiko,"

"That it?" He walked up to her. She could see how short she was in comparison to him.

"Yep," He rolled his eyes at her, but continued.

"Name's Madarame Ikkaku," He introduced himself, "I'm the third seat of this squad and it looks like I'll be the one to assign you a seat," He jerked his head behind him, "Follow me," Tsukiko did as she was told, but couldn't help but feel that many eyes were upon her backside. She jerked her head around and saw only one man standing behind her. He had short, silky black hair and two feathers of two different colors sticking out from his right eyelash. Instead of the standard shinigami uniform, he added an orange neck piece and wrist bands.

He looked up at her suddenly, feeling eyes upon him, "Eh? What?" He blinked at her several times.

"Nothing," she turned back around, "I just got the feeling of being watched," The man chuckled slightly and walked by her side this time. He tapped her on the shoulder lightly and, as soon as he got her attention, he made a gesture with his eyes to look back. Tsukiko looked behind her and saw a horde of men, attempting to catch a glimpse of their new squad member from behind doors and windows. As soon as they saw the surprise in her face, they dispersed as if they were never there.

"Don't act surprised!" The man laughed, "You _are_ a woman in the 11th Divison after all!" He looked at her horrified expression, "Don't worry! You're pretty cute, not as beautiful as me of course, but cute enough! I'll help you out every so often…um…Tsukiko…was it?" She nodded, "What a beautiful name! Too beautiful for you if you ask me! I'd at least expect you to have _blue_ streaks and not red!"

"And what may your name be?" She was getting annoyed by how narcissistic the man was.

"Yumichika! Ayasegawa Yumichika!" He said cheerfully, "5th seat! I originally wanted 3rd seat because three's such a beautifully written number, but Ikkaku took that, so I took number five instead! It almost looks like three! (2)"

"Well, Ayasegawa-san, I didn't necessarily _choose_ the color of my hair, thank you," She folded her arms as she walked, still following Ikkaku.

"Eh? But it's in a strange pattern! Surely you must've dyed it!" He look surprised.

"Nuh-uh. This is the way it's always been," She answered truthfully, "I never comes out so it can't be dyed!"

"How strange,"

Tsukiko was about to say something about him, when Ikkaku had announced they had arrived at the training hall to their division.

"You ready, kid?" Ikkaku looked back at Tsukiko, giving her a malicious smile.

**M O O N C H I L D**

Mori: Whew! Long chappie! Please review!

1: A quote from bleach at the beginning of book five…or six…I can't remember which one. I'm pretty sure it's five.

2: The numbers in Japanese are written differently (obviously), which is why Yumicha said that 5 looks like a 3.


	3. Chapter 3

Mori: I kinda like how this is turning out! Don't forget to review kiddies!

**E F F O R T L E S S **

"You ready kid?" Ikkaku looked back at her and smiled maliciously. Tsukiko nodded nervously, "I dunno how you ended up in this division, but I'm warning you now: every man here is no push over. You're gonna have to be at your best in order to get whatever seat your aiming for," He walked forward into the room and Yumichika had to push her back slightly to get her to follow him, "We fight with wooden swords, not zanpakutou , in here. It's just a sparring hall not a battle ground,"

He walked over to a door and held it open, taking out two wooden swords. He threw one to her and she caught it just as easily, "Yumichika, you fight her," he threw the other one to Yumichika who dogged it, letting it fall to the ground with a '_**clank**_'.

"You expect _me_ to get filthy and sweaty?!" He said in utter disbelief.

"Well who else is gonna? I gotta observe to decide which spot she gets," He shrugged his shoulders.

"But _me?_ Ikkaku," he whined.

"I'll do it!" Shouted a voice from outside.

"No, me!"

"Let me do it!" Voices kept popping up from outside.

"I wanna touch her breasts!"

"All of you morons fucking get in here right now!!!" Ikkaku yelled out the window, seeing no one. As soon as he turned around the sparring room was filled with men chatting happily. He grit his teeth and growled, glaring at every last one of them.

"Ew," Tsukiko stated looking at all of them.

"You could say that again," Yumichika sighed.

"…Ew,"

"I didn't mean literally," The corner of his lip twitched into a smirk.

"I know," She stated, "But still….ew," Yumichika found himself smiling at her sullen reaction to so many disgusting men.

"All right! All right!" Ikkaku yelled to get everyone's attention, "Hey, kid, center. Now," Ikkaku pointed to the middle of the room. Tsukiko obeyed and stood where he pointed, "You ever sparred with a wooden sword?"

"Um…is there any difference?" Tsukiko raised an eyebrow at him.

"Normally, yes. There's rules," he explained to her, "But in squad eleven's case, the answer is 'no'! You fight until you or your opponent are unable to. Got it?"

"Sure," She stared blankly, yet somewhat bored, "So. Who's first?" She swung the piece of wood over her right shoulder.

"Eh…" He looked around the room. To be completely honest with himself, he didn't want to give her an opponent. She looked to small and fragile next to all of these men. In his mind's eye, it looked as if a little black sheep wondered into a den of ravenous wolves. With a slight sigh, Ikkaku picked out a random person, "I dunno. Uh…Karasu you go," He waved his hand at him.

Tsukiko couldn't care less to even look at any of the men in squad eleven. They all disgusted her to the point where she wanted to throw up. When Ikkaku gave them the okay to start, she merely stayed in the same position she was and closed her eyes.

"What? No fightin' stance?" He asked, "A bit cocky for a little girl," she could here him laugh, "Well I ain't goin' easy on yeh," She could hear his feet run across the room. As soon as he was close enough, she snapped open her eyes and swung at his stomach. The entire room went silent upon hearing his grunt of pain. They went deathly silent as he dropped to the floor, nearly unconscious.

It took Ikkaku several seconds to process what had just happened. He closed his mouth and cleared his throat into his fist, "Karasu is unable to fight. Winner: Tsukiko," The room erupted into a fit of whispers before Ikkaku could pick out her next opponent. He figured she was pretty good, so he skipped several seat numbers up to find her a better match, "Oi, Yuuske. You're up,"

Tsukiko knew she would be able to try the same trick twice. They had already seen what she could do with one blow and wouldn't be surprised if they no longer took her lightly. This time she took a fighting stance. Though she wasn't going to fight him too seriously, she figured she should at least let them think that for the sake of their own pride.

"Begin!" Ikkaku's voice cut through the air of tension. Immediately he rushed at her, taking her as serious as he would any other squad member. His eyes were murderous and full of loathing.

This man was no different from the first one. He ended up the same as Karasu. Again the room was in shock. Ikkaku tried skipping seats every so often, going higher each time. Every single time, Tsukiko would beat them with ease. He could swear that she looked completely bored out of her mind, fighting the people he was choosing for her. A bit later on, many of the men, whom she defeated, demanded a rematch. He didn't allow it since he was still trying to place her somewhere. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached Yumichika's position. No matter how many times Ikkaku yelled at him, Yumichika utterly refused to get dirty and sweaty, giving Tsukiko an automatic win. He sighed, figuring there was no other choice.

"What the hell's all this? Ikkaku, you still haven't found her a seat yet?" Kenpachi drifted into the room, Yachiru perched happily on his shoulder.

"Ah, Taichou," Ikkaku acknowledged his captain's presence, "Unfortunately no I haven't yet. In fact I was just about to fight her myself,"

"What?" He turned to Tsukiko to look at her and turned back to Ikkaku, "This brat's that high on the food chain? You gotta be kidding me!" He laughed comically, "Alright," he stopped laughing abruptly, "Go on. I'll watch from here,"

"Yay!" Yachiru shouted happily, "Tsuki-neechan, you may be a bit clumsy, but you're really strong to be fighting baldy! Ha-ha!"

Ikkaku grabbed a wooden sword for himself and faced her seriously, "You know I know most of your movements by now since I've been watching all this time. Don't hold back, you'll regret it," He took his stance.

She shrugged and took her stance as well, "I know. Besides if Ren-kun acknowledges you as a friend then I guess you gotta be worth something," She smirked.

"Who?"

"Renji," She said flatly as if it were the simplest thing in seireitei. Ikkaku tried his hardest to keep his serious expression, but failed as he fell to the floor and clutched his stomach.

"HE SERIOUSLY LETS YOU CALL HIM THAT?!" He kept laughing as a stream of tears poured out of his eyes, "HAHAHAHA! MAN, I'LL NEVER LET THAT GUY LIVE IT DOWN NOW! HAHAHAHA! HE GOT SOFT AFTER JUST A FEW WEEKS OF BEING IN SQUAD SIX!"

Sadly, Tsukiko couldn't find the amusement in his words and just stared blankly at him as he rolled around on the floor, howling with laughter. After a minute or two, he finally pulled himself together and got up off the floor. He wiped the corner of his eye as his laughter died down.

"Heh, I like you, kid," He took his stance once more, "Tell ya what. If you can actually beat me, I'll give ya anything you want. Just name it,"

"And if it so happens that I don't?"

"Mmmmm," He thought for a moment, his eyes rolling around in thought, "I dunno yet. I guess I'll know when I need something done. So we gotta deal?"

Tsukiko smirked at him, "Alright then. Deal," They nodded to each other and began the fight as soon as Yachiru gave the okay.

Tsukiko aimed right, Ikkaku blocked. She stabbed and he swung. After a few rounds of the same thing, she didn't like where the fight was going. Tsukiko jumped back a bit and waited for him to attack. Ikkaku smirked.

"Hmph. Bad move, kid!" He ran towards her and swung down his sword, "I'm better at attacking than defending," Their swords met, Tsukiko's in a sideways position to defend herself. She grit her teeth as he pushed down further, causing her to take a step back to keep her balance. He gave her a knowing smile and kicked her back with his right foot. Tsukiko wasn't expecting it and was completely caught off guard as she flew across the room. Luckily she crouched down and skidded to a stop just before she hit the wall, "Had enough, kid?"

"Heh, you wish baldy!" She charged at him with fury. The night dragged on slowly as they went on back and fourth. Some men got bored, others hungry. The ones that were still there were mostly asleep. The only ones still paying close attention were Yumichika, Yachiru, and Kenpachi.

Tsukiko began to grow tired and fatigued. Her fights from earlier, although they were mostly easy, still took a bit of effort therefore added to her fatigue now. It also didn't help that Ikkaku had a lot of stamina as it was, not to mention he really is an exceptional fighter to begin with. She now had a difficult time trying to keep up with him at best. Instead of attacking, she was now defending and blocking every attack that he threw at her, including the ones that didn't have anything to do with a sword. Too lost in her thoughts to notice his attack pattern, he smirked and gave the finishing blow to her side using his foot.

She'd been careless, not to mention tired, and spacing out was her biggest mistake. She landed roughly against the wall. She panted and opened her eyes to see him standing not too far away. He was smiling at her and holding the sword over his shoulder, just as she had been doing when she started out. She breathed out and smiled back at him, knowing she couldn't hold out much longer, "Ha. Okay. You win," She closed her eyes and began to drift off.

"Heh," She heard him say, "Not too bad, kid. That puts you in the fourth seat,"

Tsukiko guessed that was pretty good, but could no longer care at the moment. The only thing she wanted was to sleep.

**N I E B L O T O M O D A C H I**

"Geeze, how long does this kid sleep? It's already noon!" Tsukiko heard Ikkaku's voice loud and clear. She decided to ignore it and roll over. She realized she was in a warm, comfy futon, with a blanket wrapped around her, "Finally! You're awake! C'mon, kid, get up!" Tsukiko groaned in protest and pulled the covers over her head.

She heard a giggle and guessed it was Yumichika, "I guess she really liked sleeping in your bed last night, Ikkaku,"

"Heh, it was part of the deal after all," Ikkaku played along.

"WHAT?!" Tsukiko shot right up, a horrified expression plastered on her face. Ikkaku and Yumichika both laughed at her reaction.

"Oh man! You shoulda seen you face, kid!" Ikkaku's laughter died down a bit more quickly than last time, "Priceless," Tsukiko looked over pleadingly at Yumichika.

He laughed a bit, "Don't make such a big fuss, Tsuki-chan! You slept in Ikkaku's bed for the night because we don't have a room for you yet and, no, he did not sleep with you," he added quickly to calm another horrified expression.

Tsukiko sighed with relief, "Sorry about stealing your bed then," she laughed nervously, "You coulda let me sleep where ever I happened to knock out! I'm not really that picky,"

"Nah, don't worry about it," Ikkaku shrugged it off, "Besides, what kinda man would I be if I let you sleep like that," he smirked, "Heh. Especially in _this_ squad,"

"Besides!" Yumichika added, "Tsuki-chan, you look much too innocent to get raped!" He help up a finger to make a point, smiling all the while. Tsukiko's face turned blue at the thought.

"So, you gonna get outta my bed?" Ikkaku asked flatly. Tsukiko stared at him for a moment, blinked a few times.

She happily threw herself back on the futon, hugging the pillow, "No way! This is hella comfy!" She squealed like a fan girl, "I don't remember ever sleeping in something so comfortable before!"

"What the hell kinda life were you livin'?" Ikkaku raised his eyebrow in thought, "What, didja sleep on trees and camp out in dirt or something?"

"Yes," There was an eerie silence following her answer.

"Mah, Tsuki-chan," Yumichika waved his hand at her, "Surely you don't really mean that quite so literally! I mean sleeping in trees where those ugly insects can crawl in your shirt, or on the cold icky ground where you can get dirty so easily!" Tsukiko gave no notion that she was joking. In return Yumichika gave her a horrified look.

"Speaking of dirt," Tsukiko sat up and looked at both of them, "Is there a bath near by or something? I feel kinda gross from yesterday,"

"Yeah, kid about that-"

"You don't want to take a bath here! Those men will just be waiting for a chance to take advantage of you!"

"That's kinda the reason why we're trying to get ya a better room. So you don't have to use the same bath as us,"

"So….what then?" She blinked. The situation was getting more tedious by the second.

"Well we're right next door to the 10th Division. I'm sure that bimbo wouldn't mind letting you use her stuff for a while," Ikkaku rubbed the back of his neck. Tsukiko was confused at this point, "Yumichika, since you refused to participate yesterday, I want you to go take her to Matsumoto," Yumichika frowned, but agreed.

Tsukiko got up and straightened out her clothes. She was thankful that Ikkaku had enough decency to not change her. She took one step forward, but noticed a chunk of her hair fall in front of her face. She stopped and looked around to find her ribbon. She found it next to the pillow and grabbed it, putting it up in the same spiky hair style as before. She smiled, signaling to Yumichika that she was ready and he led the way.

It wasn't long before they entered squad ten barracks. He went inside and walked calmly to the captain's room.

"Who is it?" An irritable voice drifted from behind the door.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, it's Ayasegawa Yumichika from squad eleven. Is Matsumoto fuku-taichou available?"

The door slid open suddenly, "Ah! Yumichika! Come to save me from the dreaded paperwork?" A woman with extremely light brown hair (almost a dirty blond) that was rather wavy, and large breasts popped out of the door. She averted her lightly colored onyx eyes behind Yumichika, "Eh? Oh! You're the ryoka girl! Tsukiko? Right?" She smiled at Tsukiko as she nodded.

"Matsumoto, I need to ask you a favor," Yumichika continued.

"Hm? What kind?"

"Would you mind letting Tsuki-chan borrow some of your bathing supplies? Ikkaku and I don't really think it's a very good idea if she bathed in our barracks,"

"Of course! Why didn't you say so earlier! Taichou!" She called out from behind her back. Tsukiko saw a white haired kid with sea green eyes glare at her, "Taichou, I'm going to take a break right now!"

"Matsumoto, you've done nothing _but_ take breaks since you started," His voice was irritated and threatening.

"Ah, but this time it's for good reason! I'll see you in a bit, Taichou!" She stepped out and nearly slammed the door behind her, "You can go if you want, Yumichika! I'll make sure she gets back to your squad in one piece,"

"Thanks," He grunted, "But knowing Ikkaku, I'm expected to bring her back with me," He turned and walked off, "Call me when you're done,"

Matsumoto shrugged, "Suit yourself!" She looked at Tsukiko and grabbed her hand, "Lets go! It'll be fun taking a bath together!" She dragged her off in the opposite direction Yumichika went and into another room.

Matsumoto practically shoved her in the steaming room. Once she was in herself, she ripped off all her clothes. Tsukiko was still in the process of untieing her obi and was going much to slow for Matsumoto's tastes. Matsumoto thought she should help her and began to rip of nearly ever article of clothing she had.

"Ah! Matsumoto fuku-taichou! I'm perfectly capable of undressing myself!"

"Eh? That's too long! Just call me 'Matsumoto'! Or a nickname if you can think of one!" She laughed happily and pushed Tsukiko towards the showers. They washed their hair and their bodies and rinsed off. Once they were done, Matsumoto nearly threw Tsukiko into the bath.

Tsukiko sighed and relaxed against the edge of the bath. Tsukiko learned that dropping her guard around Matsumoto was one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Matsumoto sprang up from beneath the water and jumped on Tsukiko excitedly.

"Ah! Matsumoto-san! W-What are you doing?!"

"Oh? You have nice round breasts, Tsukiko! Let me see if they're any good!"

"Ah! Wait! Don't!"

**O U T S I D E**

Yumichika leaned against the wall; just outside of the room Tsukiko and Matsumoto were bathing. He looked up at the clear blue sky, but his vision was cut short from the steam that floated out of the room from the vent openings all across the wall. He sighed once more and looked down at his feet. Suddenly he heard Tsukiko screech, making him jump slightly.

"Matsumoto-san! Don't!"

"How nice! You're breasts are so soft, Tsuki-chan! What lotion do you use?"

"Stop touching them! It's creepy!"

"But they're soft!"

"I don't-EEP!"

"What the hell are those two doing in there?" He mumbled to himself. He shook his head free from thoughts and tried to ignore them. From the corner of his eye, he saw several people. He looked with full attention and saw about three men standing on wooden crates to peek in the vent openings, "What the hell are you doing?! Perverts! Get out of here!" Yumichika yelled at them. The men fell off the crates loudly, scrambled to their feet and ran off in case they got caught, "Geese," He sighed.

After another ten minutes of Tsukiko yelling at Matsumoto to 'not touch', they got out of the bath and put on knew kimono that were laid out for them. They dressed; Tsukiko reapplied her swords to her back and her ribbon in her hair. She reluctantly thanked her for the usage of the bath and supplies.

"No problem! Come over anytime you want!" She waved the two of them off.

As soon as Yumichika and Tsukiko were out of hearing range, Tsukiko looked to him pleadingly, "Can't we go to squad twelve next time?"

"No,"

"Why?"

"…You'd probably prefer taking the risk of bathing in our squad," Tsukiko sighed and said nothing more.

Once they were back at their own squad, they checked with Ikkaku and sat down to enjoy the somewhat peaceful atmosphere. That is until Yachiru bounced up to them.

"Tsuki-neechan, play with me!" Yachiru jumped on her chest. Tsukiko groaned inwardly. Her poor chest was getting very abused lately.

"Play what?"

"Um…..Tag! Lets play tag!" Yachiru poked her finger to Tsukiko's forehead, "You're it! Try to catch me if ya can!" She stuck out a tongue and ran off.

Tsukiko sighed and got up, hearing Ikkaku laugh slightly next to her, "What?"

"Nothin'," He shrugged, "Be careful though. She cheats," He folded his arms and glared behind closed eye lids.

"Great," Tsukiko replied sarcastically and ran off to go tag Yachiru. Seeing her nowhere in sight, she jumped up high, hovering in the air a few moments while turning in a three-hundred and sixty degree circle. To her far left she saw a little pink blur, "Gotcha!" She landed on a nearby rooftop and jumped on each one with swiftness. It only took her less than a minute to catch up to her little vice captain.

"Haha! Hey! You caught up!" Yachiru smiled at her and bounced off to her right, away from Tsukiko cursed under her breath and tried to follow Yachiru. The game of tag continued on for hours, going back and forth between the two. It was mostly Yachiru trying to catch Tsukiko after the first few times of being tagged. Tsukiko, having longer legs, was much faster than the smaller vice captain.

The game was very intense and spread throughout the seireitei. Yachiru had often knocked people or objects over, going after Tsukiko. Tsukiko rarely ran into someone on the occasion. Several people looked from the balcony of one building. Some watching with amusement, others with annoyed expressions.

"They causing a disturbance," Kuchiki's voice cut the silence between them.

"Ha! I don't think I've seen Yachiru have this much fun with someone before," Kenpachi took a sip of sake, watching random explosions of dust clouds appear from one end of seireitei to another.

"Fun wreaking havoc," Renji mumbled, leaning on the balcony with his head resting on his arms.

"Haha! Don't get mad now, Kuchiki-taichou," A man with short silver/white hair leaned his elbows on the railing. His face was permanently turned into the form of a smile, "Yachiru fuku-taichou looks like she's havin' a lotta fun!"

"Get back here you! I'm telling Ken-chan on you! You're not playing fair!" Yachiru yelled out angrily, even though Tsukiko was playing perfectly fair, "HA! I tagged you! Now your it! You won't get me this time!"

The four of them sweat dropped as more random explosions of dust clouds appeared and screaming from several of the shinigami from down below was heard. Yachiru flew in front of their eyes. She saw Kenpachi from the corner of her eye and decided to wave, giving Tsukiko the perfect opportunity to catch up.

"Ha! Now I've got you Ya-" Yachiru kicked her in the face before she could tag her. Tsukiko descended towards the ground, her front side hitting the tiles of a roof, and landed in a mass of crates that crushed under her sudden weight, "Ah! Yachiru fuku-taichou! That's cheating!" Tsukiko muttered several curse words and whined a bit from the fall, "Ow! That hurt! Someone wanna help? I'm kinda bleeding," She called out.

Renji's eyes twitched in annoyance and he finally decided to call out to her, "Suck it up, Tsuki! I bet your not even hurt that bad!"

"Ah! Ren-kun! Help me!" He saw her arms wave around from beneath the mess of broken wood.

Renji growled with frustration and jumped over the railing, "You didn't even fall that far down," he walked over to where she landed, "I bet it's just a little scrape on the elbow," he smirked, "You know you really need to- HOLY SHIT! YOU'RE BLEEDING!!"

"I told you!" She whined as he began to panic slightly.

"Hold still! Don't move! Somebody call squad four!" He yelled out, "Don't move, idiot! You'll make it worse!"

"But it's uncomfortable! Besides aren't you supposed to put pressure on it?! It's gonna keep bleeding!" She got up from the mass of crates.

The three captain's watching the scene, watched with a slight amusement as people began to panic from the sight of blood on the floor. Kenpachi laughed at some of the weak-hearted ones that went into a panic frenzy.

**D A I S K I!**

Tsukiko was sniffling comically in a chair. Hanatarou was applying bandages to the wound and Renji was leaning against the wall, eyes closed and arms folded. He finally had enough of Tsukiko's sniffling and whining, so he pushed himself off the wall and made his way over to her. He clenched his hand into a fist and landed it at the top of her head, lightly, but still hard enough to get her to cry out in surprise, "Quit your wailing! He said it's not that serious!"

"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, you jackass!" She yelled back at him.

"Refrain from moving please!" Hanatarou gave her a stern look, which she obeyed, but continued to glare at Renji, "Alright!" Hanatarou wiped his brow with his forearm, "I'm done! I know you're a fast healer, Tsukiko-neesan, but try not to move around too much until it's healed enough,"

Tsukiko rolled the leg of her hakama back down and rubbed her thigh a little where the wound had been, "Thanks, Tarou-kun!" She jumped on him, nearly hugging him to death, "You're always helping me! I don't know whether to call you 'big brother' or 'little brother'!"

Renji found it odd that he was slightly jealous at the sight of Hanatarou being squashed into her bosom. As she jumped up and down on one foot with Hanatarou still within her grasp, her breasts bounced along with them and opened her kimono just ever so slightly. Renji saw the smooth skin curve down into her kimono and, for a second, wondered how soft it was. He shook his head free of thoughts and grabbed her wrist.

"Alright, c'mon," he sighed, "Hanatarou needs to breath. And get back to work," he added. They quickly left the room. Tsukiko smiled and waved at a flustered looking Hanatarou, and let herself be dragged off by Renji. Once they were outside Renji sighed and began to use shunpo to escort her back to her squad. After leaping off several buildings, he noticed she wasn't following. He stopped and looked back. She was following. She was just being extremely slow about it.

Tsukiko finally caught up, out of breath, "Oi, Ren-kun, just because my wound insn't life threatening doesn't mean I'm not affected by it!" She bent over, leaning on her knees. Renji could see her cleavage as she bent over. He blushed and instantly looked away.

"Not my problem. I'll slow down a bit if you're hurting that much," He was about to leap off, but was caught from the sleeve by Tsukiko.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? You've been acting kinda weird since we left the fourth squad," Her eyes were full of concern.

"Nothing's wrong!" He snapped and tried to yank his sleeve away from her grip, "Now let go!"

"No!" She held firm onto the fabric, "I'm not letting go until you tell me!" While Renji was struggling to shake her loose, she was struggling to keep a firm grip, not paying attention to her footing. Her right leg gave out, from the wound earlier, and slip along the tiles and into an ally. Tsukiko screamed out of habit and dragged Renji with her.

'_Shit'_ Was his only thought before taking action. There was a small '_**thud**_' sound on the ground where they landed. Tsukiko heard it, but didn't necessarily feel the effects of landing on a stone floor (though it wasn't that far from where they fell). She heard Renji groan and her eyes immediately shot open at the reality of the situation. She sat up as far as she could, with Renji's grip tight around her small frame, and looked at him worriedly.

"Ren-kun! Are you okay?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen!" She got another groan in reply. She leaned down on him and pressed her hand to his cheek, "Do you feel alright? Did you hit your head?"

Renji bit his lip in pain. He was in agony, yes, but not the kind she was thinking. Her small body was soft and fragile and so easily embraceable to his arms. She could feel the skin from her chest reach his just ever so lightly, teasing him. Why didn't she ever wear wrappings underneath her kimono? He nearly went overboard from the touch of her soft, cool hand against his face. Her fingers brushed him like feathers.

"Renji?" Her voice was soft and worried, she almost whispered it. Renji swallowed and tried to keep control. He opened his eyes and didn't expect her to be so close. He blushed, lightly, let her go, and sat up.

"I'm fine," he managed to choke out, "C'mon. Lets get you back to your squad. It's getting late," He stood up and dust himself off. Tsukiko did the same and followed behind, his now much slower, pace, "I'm not gonna keep doin' this for you, keep that in mind. Just until you're used to the layout,"

"Yeah," She nodded, her mind still racing with thoughts, "Thanks,"

Once they arrived, Renji turned on his heel to leave, but was held back around the neck, "Oi! Renji! It's been a while!" Ikkaku held him in a head lock.

"Ikkaku!" Renji growled.

"Stay for a bit! Have a drink or two! Just like the good ol' days!" Ikkaku dragged him to where he and Yumichika had been sitting. Tsukiko was going to wander off around the squad, when Yumichika called her and waved her over to them. Ikkaku sat talking animatedly to Renji, while Yumichika turned his back to them and started talking to Tsukiko.

"Tsuki-chan! I heard you got a nasty little wound from playing tag!"

"Yeah," She sighed, "Yachiru fuku-taichou kicked him in the face in mid air and I fell on a bunch of crates," She rubbed her temple.

"Ah, a bit unfortunate, but if I recall correctly, Ikkaku did warn you about her cheating!" He smiled and waved a finger at her.

"Yeah, he did," She leaned back on her hands, "I guess I shoulda listened a bit better,"

Yumichika felt a little nudge on his back. He twitched as Ikkaku nudged his back several more times, each one harder than the last. Yumichika's eye twitched in annoyance. He knew what Ikkaku was trying to tell him, "Neh, Tsuki-chan, why don't we go find Yachiru-chan? She seemed a bit worried when she got back,"

"Eh? Really?" Tsukiko tilted her head slightly.

"Well sort of. She refused to say anything and when someone mentioned your name, she would glare at them and release some of her reiratsu, which isn't as small as she is by the way," he added. Ikkaku dug his elbow into Yumichika's back, earning a small grunt from the man.

"Hm?" Tsukiko looked at Yumichika's pained expression, "Ayasegawa-san, are you okay?"

Yumichika immediately perked up and laughed nervously, "Yes, of course I am! Haha! Why don't we go pay a visit to Yachiru-chan! Come now!" He grabbed her wrist and ran off with her.

Ikkaku sipped a bit of his sake and sighed in content. He set down the empty cup and poured more into it. He looked at Renji, who hadn't had a sip since they first arrived, "Alright. Spill," Ikkaku demanded.

Renji gave him a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, '_Ren-kun_'," He mocked and smirked at Renji's reaction, "What going on between you two?" He gingerly sipped his third round of sake.

"Nothin'," Renji refused to give him a straight answer.

"Don't give me that shit, Renji," Ikkaku turned serious, "I made Yumichika take Tsukiko away from here just to here you talk and kami-sama knows he's gonna beat my ass with an ugly stick, if he has the courage to pick on up, for wrinkling his clothes! Now spill it!"

Renji finally picked up the cup of sake and took a sip, "Well I'm sorry you had to go through all the trouble of hearing my talk, but like I said," Renji gave his friend a cold look, "There's nothing going on between us,"

Ikkaku looked over him carefully and smirked, "Heh, that may be true, but you definitely got the hots for her right?" Renji sprayed out a mouthful of sake, "Ha! That's it isn't it?!" Ikkaku yelled out happily.

"You're wrong! I hardly even know the girl!" Renji yelled at him. Ikkaku ignored Renji and began to hop on his toes shouting 'luck, luck, lucky,' ever few seconds. Renji slapped his forehead in embarrassment.

"What the hell is he doing?" Renji jumped at the sound of her voice behind him. He turned around to see Tsukiko with a stupefied expression on her face. Next to her, Yumichika was covering his face in embarrassment and Yachiru hung from her shoulder while laughing at Ikkaku.

"I'm afraid that's Ikkaku's 'Luck-Luck Dance'," Yumichika's eye twitched as Ikkaku used his zanpakutou to lift himself from the ground, "Try to avoid this embarrassment dance at all costs, Tsuki-chan,"

Tsukiko's expression was still stupefied, "Y-Yeah…"

"Hahaha! Baldy's doing his funny-funny dance! Yay!" Yachiru clapped her hands together several times to encourage him.

"EH?!" Ikkaku stopped dancing and looked over at his new audience, "When the hell did you bastards get here?!" He pointed with his zanpakutou.

"Right in the middle of your little rain dance," Tsukiko replied flatly.

"Che," Ikkaku slung his zanpakutou over his shoulder and sat back down as Renji got up, "Hm? Where are you going?"

"It's getting late," Renji replied, strapping his own zanpakutou around his waist, "I need to get back before Kuchiki-taichou lays my head on a silver platter," He waved to them with his back turned, "Later," With that, he shunpoed out of the area.

"Ren-kun's been acting all weird lately," Tsukiko frowned. Ikkaku laughed at this, making Tsukiko frown further, "What?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" He waved her off, causing her to give him an even more confused look. He continued to laugh, but stopped abruptly as he remembered something, "Oh that's right," he looked towards Tsukiko, "Sorry, kid we still don't have a room for you. Those damn wise men at Central 46 don't want to do through all the trouble of preparing that kind of room if you might not be here later. They said to wait until your surveillance was done with,"

"I see…"

"Honestly," Yumichika sighed, "How do they expect her to stay here if they don't treat her properly? What an ugly way of thinking,"

"It's fine," she shrugged them off, "To me they're just being cautious and they have every right to be. I mean, from what I've seen, nobody here just waltzed right in and said 'Hey there! I'm a shinigami too!' Even I think it's a bit strange," Tsukiko sighed inwardly and looked up at the night sky. Right amongst the billions of tiny lights was one giant moon. Though it was half full, Tsukiko still felt a heart-warming sensation travel down her spine as she admired its beauty.

"How did you become a shinigami? If you don't mind us asking," Yumichika looked over at Tsukiko, who held their vice captain's head in her lap as the little girl slept comfortably.

"Who knows," She answered, still looking at the bright orb in the sky, "I don't remember much from when I was little or anything. I seriously just woke up one day and started fighting like this. The only thing I remember when waking up was the voices of my zanpakutou calling out to me. Actually," her face turned less serious as she somewhat laughed nervously, "They were kind of yelling at me to wake up,"

"You honestly don't remember anything before you woke up a shinigami?" Ikkaku said it in a tone that he found hard to believe. Tsukiko sensed this.

"I know it's hard to believe. Looking at everyone here helps me to think that way too," She looked down at the sleeping girl in her lap, "But that's honestly the way things are right now and I can't help that. I am what I am and no one can tell me otherwise," She took Yachiru in her arms and rested her head against Ikkaku's leg, "I think I'll get going now. I'm tired,"

"Eh? Where are you going to sleep?" Yumichika looked at her with a strange expression.

She shrugged, "Meh, who knows. See you guys in the morning!" She gave them one last smile before running off.

Tsukiko found a rooftop with a flat surface and decided that it would be an okay place to sleep. She landed on it and took her zanpakutou off her back. She leaned against a nearby wall and held both of her zanpakutou upright between her inner thigh and her shoulder. Tsukiko's eyelids grew heavy in an instant. She was exhausted from the day's events and gladly welcomed the darkness that was sleep.

**Y U M E**

Mori: WOOT! Another chapter down! Yay! You guys have no idea how glad and excited I was just from going into my inbox and finding a horde of emails for various reviews and subscriptions! Just by doing that makes my day and gets me all worked up for another chapter!

Also if some of you, who don't understand something, please let me know! I know I use random Japanese words or phrases sometimes!

Thanks again! Review please!


	4. Chapter 4

Mori: Yay! Did you guys know that as soon as I read the new reviews I get excited and get right to work on the next chapter within thirty seconds? XD Unfortunately I'm back in school, so my updates won't be as frequent as they have been, but I'm still gonna try my best!

Has anyone else (I know one reviewer!) here seen Ikkaku's Luck-Luck dance? Lol. It's fucking hilarious! The English dubbed version is even funnier! The first time I saw the dance, I laughed my ass off! The first time I saw the ENGLISH dubbed version of the dance I stared just like Ichigo and Ganjuu after they saw the dance, THEN I laughed! XD

Has anyone here ever seen Kuchiki Byakuya tell a joke? LMAO! I couldn't believe it the first time I heard it so I watched it a second time! Lol! Just go to you tube and type in "Byakuya Tells a Joke". (smirks) For those of you who haven't seen it of course. Unbelievable, I know.

ON WITH THE FIC!

**E X T E N D E D . S H A D O W S**

Tsukiko's eye twitched as she shifted in her spot against the building. Her body broke out in a cold sweat and her breathing was uneven. She subconsciously gripped her zanpakutou tighter.

_Why? Why am I running? My hands…they're stained with blood! Have I done something wrong? I've stopped running, but…I can sense someone within the darkness. It feels so familiar, but who?_

'_You're weak,' A masculine voice pierced my ears. I jerked my body in the direction it came from, but found only the empty darkness, 'You're weak,' This time he, who ever he was, whispered it in my ear. I turned around slowly this time, hoping he would disappear. My eyes widened and my irises narrowed in fear. The man I feared, though I had no idea why, was right behind me, smiling. His face was completely shadowed, but his teeth gleamed through this darkness. I did the only thing my body allowed me to do at that point. I screamed._

Tsukiko screamed her lungs out, jolting awake. She heard her echo drift across seireitei, no doubt waking up some people. It was a moment before she finally remembered to breath. Her eyes were still wide with fear and she felt as though she couldn't breath or speak.

Lights turned on.

"What was that?"

"Is there an enemy?"

"I just heard a girl scream!"

Seireitei broke out into a miniature panic in the middle of the night. An alarm was sounded as shinigami from many different squads struggled to get dressed and slap themselves awake. The sudden outburst of the shinigami, caused Tsukiko to go into an even greater panic. The moon and the lights from seireitei sent long undistinguished shadows to her feet. She yelped and pushed herself in a corner where the shadows, hopefully were not able to reach her. Tsukiko held her knees to her chest and continued to shake and cry. Though she hadn't seen the man in her dreams, she knew him somehow and she knew she was utterly terrified of him.

'_You're weak'_. His words rang in her ears. She let out a pitiful cry and held her hands to her head in order to drown out his voice.

"Tsukiko-san?" A kind voice reached her ears. She looked up to see Aizen Souske-taichou, though she could not process this information well enough to know that he meant no harm to her, "Tsukiko-san, are you the one who screamed earlier?" He walked closer to her pathetic, shaking form. Tsukiko's eyes narrowed in fear once more as she let out another scream to fill seireitei. Unbeknownst to her, Aizen called upon a hell butterfly and sent a message to all the captains and vice captains to assist him. Tsukiko unconsciously let her reiratsu leak out wildly. Her terrified form couldn't care enough to keep it under control.

Within moments, captains and vice captains alike began to appear, one after the other. Yumichika and Ikkaku appeared beside Kenpachi and Yachiru, as they had been with them when he obtained the hell butterfly. Every one of them was having difficult time breathing under the pressure of Tsukiko's reiratsu. Ikkaku tried approaching her first, walking slowly first, but gaining a bit of speed.

Tsukiko, in her confusion, saw him as an enemy and unleashed her reiratsu further. Ikkaku reluctantly fell to the ground underneath the immense pressure. Kenpachi, instead of being worried or even the least bit impressed with his squad member, was getting a bit excited at the amount of spiritual pressure she was unleashing. He rushed in, almost completely unaffected by her reiratsu. Tsukiko saw this and moved out of the way just in time. He went after her again, but Kuchiki stopped his attack. Tsukiko could see his lips move, but couldn't make out the words.

Renji walked forward slowly. He ignored every little sting of pain in his chest. Her spiritual pressure was still growing and trying to stop him from getting any further, but he wouldn't be the one to give up so easily. She backed away, nearly at the edge of the building. He stopped abruptly, seeing this. He held his hands at chest level, showing her that he wanted to come forward and that he meant no harm to her. She allowed him to move a bit closer. Closer still. Even a little bit further. Renji was now within arms length of her, so he decided to reach out to her. Tsukiko didn't know what he was trying to do, so instead of letting him grab her, she leaned back, keeping just out of arms reach every attempt he took at getting closer to her. Leaning back to far, Tsukiko tripped over the building's edge and was about to fall. She felt someone grab her wrist roughly and haul her back up.

Tsukiko blinked. Immediately her reiratsu lowered and she regained control over it once more. She blinked again, seeing Renji's face, "R-Ren-kun? What happened? What's going on?" She glanced behind him and saw thirteen captains and twelve other vice captains, "Why does my body feel so weak all of a sudden?" She dropped to her knees and held her head in her hand, while Renji kept a firm grip on her other hand and kneeled down with her.

"You don't remember any of it? Just now?" He gave her a funny look. Tsukiko looked at him tiredly, wondering what he meant. Instantly a flash image of the man from her dreams filled her mind. He saw her eyes narrow as she let out a pitiful yelp and hold her hands to her head, "Tsuki, what happened?" He asked her.

It was a moment before she could speak, "It's nothing," she mumbled, "Just a dream," A nightmare, she wanted to say, but refrained from doing so because she still had enough sense to think how childish it might've sounded.

Renji's eye twitched in anger, "A dream?!" He got up, clenched his fist and continued to yell at her, "YOU WOKE ALL OF SEIREITEI UP BECAUSE OF A DREAM!?!" Tsukiko looked down at the ground she sat on, avoiding everyone's gaze. She was ashamed and embarrassed at her mistake.

"Mah, mah," A large hand placed itself at the top of Tsukiko's head, making her jump at the sudden contact, "Renji fuku-taichou, don't be so hard on her," His voice was kind and gently, but sounded somewhat lazy, "I'm sure it was more a nightmare than anything. Right?" He looked down at Tsukiko, but she didn't notice because her eyes where still focused on the ground. She simply nodded her head without saying anything, "See? I know that for a fact that it's happened to several captains before,"

"But, Kyoraku-taichou," Renji pushed.

"Look," Captain Kyoraku Shunsui of the 8th Division petted her head, "There was no real harm done. Sure some of us might be a little cranky, but there's nothing to worry about. Lets call off the alarms and all go back to sleep. We'll deal with it in the morning," He turned on his heal and shunpoed out of the area.

Renji was about to leave as well, but Tsukiko caught the edge of his pant leg. He sighed and sat down with her, most of the others were long gone by now. He sighed, "Sorry for yelling at you. I don't really like rude awakenings,"

She nodded, "Sorry I screamed," Her voice was extremely soft and still somewhat shaky, as if she were afraid to speak.

"Don't be," He told her quickly, "You had a nightmare," He shrugged, "It happens. Like Kyoraku-taichou said. By the way," He smiled at her, though she still couldn't see it, "You should thank him later. A few of the captains would've had your head on a silver platter and eaten you by now if it weren't for him," He laughed lightly. Tsukiko merely nodded. Renji grit his teeth in annoyance and took her face in each of his palms, lifting her head up to meet his gaze, "Listen. It was an accident. Don't worry about it," he told her firmly as though she couldn't hear him, "What do I have to do to get it through that thick skull of yours? You heard him, even captains get a bit carried away sometimes! Get over it,"

"H-Hai," Her voice cracked and her eyes glazed over. She turned her eyes away as she felt tears escape down her face. Renji wiped them away with his thumbs.

"Look at me," She did, "Now, you're going to go back to sleep and you're not going to worry about this," she swallowed and nodded, "And when you wake up-hey!" Tsukiko buried herself in his chest and tried her best not to cry, but instead trembled. Renji felt a bit sorry for pushing her away so much earlier, considering he was the only person she really ran to in times of need. He softened his gaze and steadily wrapped his arms around her, "Alright. I'll take you back. Where's your room?"

"You're standing on it," She mumbled, her face still buried in his chest.

"What?! Ugh, damn it Tsuki," His face faltered, "You get more troublesome everyday!" He let go of her and turned around, still in his kneeling position, "Hop on,"

"Eh? But-"

"Be quiet," He ordered, "You're in no condition to be moving far distances on that leg again. Just get on,"

"Long distances? Where are you taking me?"

"Squad six! Now hurry it up! I'd like to go back to sleep thanks!"

Tsukiko, reluctantly, climbed on Renji's back. Once she wrapped her arms around his neck, he grabbed her legs and began to run off back to squad six. The cold night air stung Tsukiko's still wet body. She shivered and hugged Renji tighter. Renji froze for a second as she clung to him tighter. His nose nearly bled due to the soft, round lumps in her chest pressing up against his back. He lost focus, for a moment, and fell flat on his face. Tsukiko sat on his back, still.

"What the hell was that?!" She punched his back lightly.

"Shut up!" He bolted upright, "I'm just tired is all,"

Once they reached squad six barracks, Renji set her down and led her inside quietly. He opened a door and let her inside, he followed suit and closed it behind him. Tsukiko took a peak around the room. Even though it was mostly dark, she could still see the outlines of certain objects. At one corner of the room she saw a small, square, wooden table piled with books and magazines. In another corner was a dirty clothes hamper and a decent sized mirror. At the center of the room was a futon with its blankets tossed aside. The room, in all, was decent and well kept. It felt comfortable and homey, almost.

"Who's room is this?" She whispered, still sort of looking around.

"Mine," She heard him answer, but couldn't find his silhouette within the dark space.

"Yours?" Her voice was clearly in disbelief.

"What?"

"I dunno," She shrugged, "It just that you don't really seem the clean freak type and this room's pretty clean from what I can tell,"

"Heh, just wait until a few more months. I just cleaned it the other day because I couldn't walk without tripping over something," He moved closer to where she stood, "Here. They're probably a bit big, since they're mine, but they'll do for now. Bathroom's over there," He handed her a sleeping kimono and placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her around in the direction of the bathroom.

Tsukiko followed his directions and entered the bathroom. She turned on the light, making her wince a bit, and closed the door behind her. Slipping out of her shinigami uniform, she put on the robe Renji lent her. He was right. It was much too big for her small frame. The robe kept slipping from her shoulder, no matter how tight she tied it and the sleeves were nearly as long as her arms. She didn't mind very much, though. It was extremely comfy and had plenty of space for her to move around in. Most of all it kept her warm.

"Shit," She heard Renji curse from across the room. She folded her robes neatly and laid them on the counter for tomorrow. Tsukiko opened the door and turned off the light. Across the room, she saw Renji digging in a closet, frantically; his arms trying to move several of the objects blocking his goal. She carefully tiptoed behind him. She noted that he was already dressed in his own night robe before speaking.

"Ren-kun, what are you doing?" Her soft voice startled him, causing him to jump back and running into her slightly.

He backed off, "Sorry. I was just trying to get the extra futon out. This closet's a pain in the ass," He scratched the back of his neck.

She looked at the closet and sweat dropped, "Well maybe if wouldn't have stuffed everything in there like a lazy teenager, you'd be able to get it out much easier," He gave her a low growl in response, in return she yawned and stretched her arms out, "Well, I'm gonna go steal your bed to sleep in while you get out mine," She patted his shoulder and walked off, "Good luck with that!" She jumped in and grabbed the covers, only to pull them up completely over her head.

She heard footsteps lightly make their way across the room, "You've got some nerve," Tsukiko could practically feel his voice vibrating in her ears.

She pulled down the covers just enough to see that he was directly over her face, "Why go through all the trouble? This futon's big enough for the two of us! Besides I'll be gone in a few hours when everyone else wakes up, so there's really no point in digging for your lost futon in the _cave of wonders_," She emphasized the words she used to describe his closet.

He rolled his eyes at her comment and how naïve she was, "You expect me to share a bed with you?" He raised his eyebrow.

"What's the matter?" She taunted, "Poor Ren-kun's never lain with a woman before and is too shy to even be near one?"

He smirked at her, "Fine. Move it, Kaguya-hime (1)," He forced his way in under the blankets as she gave him a strange look.

"Kaguya-hime? What's with that nickname?"

"Since you're actin' so high and mighty all of a sudden," He laid on his back, his hands resting behind his head.

"But why 'Kaguya'?" She looked ever to him curiously.

"Ugh, damn it, Tsuki, go to sleep! It's too early for this. Kuchiki-taichou's gonna deduct my pay if I'm late again,"

"But I can't sleep," She blinked at the darkness innocently, "The shadows," she peeked at the window that illuminated the room with a tinge of moonlight, "They're still out there," She felt a stinging pain in her forehead, "Ow! What was that for?" She rubbed it and looked at him angrily.

"Hmph. Don't be stupid or I'll flick you again. Nothing's gonna attack you while I'm around," He closed his eyes calmly.

Tsukiko smiled and scooted closer to him, resting her head on his chest and throwing her arm across him, "You're right," His eyes snapped open at the sudden lack of distance between them. Her voice was soft and caring, "Your hair's bright enough to scare them away anyway," She snuggled closely to him and drifted off to sleep. He chuckled and let sleep take him as well.

**T Y P E : A B**

"Ah, Kuchiki-taichou," Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika poked their heads into his office, "Sorry for intruding, but we were sent to retrieve Tsukiko-san. Taichou wanted her right away,"

"And what makes you think she's in my office?" He calmly retorted while signing a few documents.

"Uh…well," He hesitated, "We though she might've been with Renji,"

"He is obviously not here. Try the room in barrack one. It should be the first room to your left," He further ignored them and continued to look at the documents assigned to him. They thanked him and left. It didn't take them very long since Renji's room was in the first barrack. Ikkaku entered without knocking; Yumichika stood in the hallway with his arms crossed.

"Oi! Renji! Where's Tsu-" He froze in his place, trying to comprehend the scene before him. Renji and Tsukiko were using the same futon. Not only that, but they held each other close and their legs intertwined and hair unkempt; taken out of their ties like lovers. To add more to Ikkaku's imagination, Tsukiko's robe was halfway down her shoulders, revealing smooth, creamy skin, "…" He blinked several times, "What the hell's going on here?! I thought you said there was nothing going on between you two!"

"Fucking Ikkaku!" Renji grumbled as he rubbed his face and got up at his friend's sudden outburst, "Can you be any fucking noisier?"

"What's with the two of you?! Sleeping like that!" Ikkaku thought for a second and changed his thoughts, "Heh, I didn't know you liked 'em so innocent," He smirked, "Kinky, Renji. Very kinky,"

"Shut it! Nothing happened," Renji sat up, being careful not to wake her up, and ran a hand through his long mass of hair, "What the hell are you doing here anyway? What time is it?"

"We came here to take Tsukiko back to our squad," Yumichika decided to join the conversation, "By the way, the day's already started for you, _fuku-taichou_," He mocked Renji.

"Shit!" Renji cursed, throwing the covers off himself, "Are you serious? Damn it…"

A heavy aura filled the room. It was very familiar and radiated blood lust like no other. If this story were a manga, little black squiggly lines would've appeared out of a certain corner in the room and spelled 'Doom' large enough for all to see. However, this is no manga, thus no little squigglies spelling 'doom' appeared in the air to make it clear that they were in danger.

"Heh, Kuchiki-taichou's gonna have your head," Ikkaku laughed at Renji quite loudly

"I said 'Shut it', Ikkaku! Just wake her up and get outta here," He quickly dressed in his usual Shinigami outfit with his vice captain's badge and quickly searched for his hair tie.

Ikkaku shrugged, "Looks like those Silver Dragon Fly store sunglasses will have to wait a whole 'nother year," He taunted.

"I said-"

"SHUT! UP!" Tsukiko's voice cut him off. She stood where she had been sleeping, glaring at them intently. Her eyes spelled 'doom' for them and her spiritual pressure radiated blood lust from every inch of her body. She flickered her reiratsu to show them that she wasn't joking, "I'LL FUCKING CHOKE ALL OF YOU TO DEATH WITH MY REIRATSU ALONE IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!"

Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika stood scared stiff from her sudden outburst. It was clear that a woman's wrath was one to be feared, but a woman with blood type AB (2) that was just woken up from a peaceful slumber was obviously much worse. They didn't know her blood type of course, but they could've taken a good guess at that moment and won first place in a guessing contest. Not one of them dared to move, in fear of making a sound to anger her even further.

Her killer aura disappeared in an instant as her eyes became droopy once more. She plopped back down onto the futon and fell asleep once more. They stood very still, like statues, and waited until they were sure she was asleep again. They looked at each other, as if to confirm if she was actually asleep or not. Ikkaku and Yumichika backed away slowly and as soon as they were in the hall, they ran for it. Renji crawled silently to the futon to obtain his hair tie. He froze when Tsukiko shifted.

"Ren-kun?" She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, "What time is it?"

"Uh…late…for me at least," He hesitated.

"Ah, sorry," She looked over at him, "Eh? What's wrong? You're acting like you're scared of me or something,"

"You kinda…woke up yelling at me, Ikkaku, and Yumichika because we were making a lotta noise and stuff," He explained in a still low voice.

"Oh!" She put her hand behind her head and laughed nervously, "I'm sorry! I do that in my sleep sometimes! I think it's because I just don't like waking up to a bunch of noise," She tapped her finger against her chin in thought.

"R-Right," He shivered, remembering the Tsukiko that woke up just a moment ago. Tsukiko noticed something and moved in rather close to his face. Renji was glad most of his hair covered his face to hide the slight tint of red that appeared in his cheeks, "W-what?"

She smiled cutely, "Ren-kun, you look…nice with your hair down like that,"

He raised his eyebrow, "Nice?"

She backed away and laughed to herself, "I guess. I don't really know the right word for it," She shrugged.

"Right…" He grabbed his hair tie and tied his hair up, "Oh and Ikkaku and Yumichika where looking for you earlier. You should get going. They said Zaraki-taichou wanted to see you,"

She nodded, "Right. I'll go soon. You can go, since you're already late. I'll clean up here," She stretched as she got up from the futon.

"Right. I'll leave it to you then," He nodded and waved as he ran out the door. Tsukiko sighed and folded the futon and blankets, stuffing them in the corner of the room. She ran into the bathroom to change into her uniform. If her friends were sent to get her, then the captain must've needed something urgent. Tsukiko thought about last night's events as she ran all the way to her squad. She felt slightly guilty that she had woken all of seireitei up because of her problems, but what had bothered her most was the dream itself. She was almost certain that it was not just a dream. Of course, telling others that would just lead them to believe that she and that she was delusional and out of her mind. Her thoughts drifted to the eighth squad captain. He had surely saved her a lot of trouble last night and she felt a great urge to thank him for his kind words.

"Tsuki-neechan!" Yachiru jumped on her face, knocking her over.

"Y-Yachiru fuku-taichou! I can't breath!" She clawed her arm at the air in an attempt to grab hold of something. Yachiru laughed at her and jumped off.

"Ken-chan was looking for you!"

"Ah, Hai, I got the message," Before she could say anymore, an enormous reiratsu struck her senses. She turned around and dogged just in time to see Kenpachi land, indenting the stone walkway, where she had stood not but a moment ago, "K-Kenpachi-taichou!?" Tsukiko held her arms to her chest, as if creating a mental barrier.

"About friggin' time you got here! I've been itchin' to fight ya since last night!" he yelled out and attacked her once more.

She dogged quickly, "Taichou!" She whined.

"Quit your whining and draw your sword already! Show me that enormous amount of murderous reiratsu you had last night!" He smiled maniacally and lunged at her with his rusty and ragged zanpakutou. She screamed and dogged again, "Where's that fighting spirit in ya, huh?! Why the hell are you even in my squad if you refuse to fight?!"

"Like hell I'm gonna fight my _captain_!" She yelped again and dogged. Before Kenpachi could make up a comeback she used shunpo to vanish from the area. He attempted to follow and go after her, but it was already too late. She had gone an extremely far distance in a short amount of time, hiding her reiratsu as best she could along the way. What she didn't know was that Zaraki Kenpachi wasn't able to sense reiratsu that well, so hiding her reiratsu was merely pointless.

Tsukiko bent over and leaned on her knees to catch her breath. She couldn't believe her own captain had just nearly tried to murder her! She couldn't help but think everyone in this entire place was close to insanity. She inhaled the deep rich scent of the fresh air and calmed a bit. True, she thought the place a bit odd, she still found it much better than fending for herself out beyond the walls of seireitei. Thinking of the certain memories that had ailed her hunger, had caused her to remember that she hadn't eaten in quite a while. The last she ate was the bread and tea Hanatarou had given her back in the sick bay. Tsukiko was glad for one thing of fending for herself. She hardly ever found food or even a decent amount of food while in her travels. Luckily, her body had adapted to such eating habits and on every rare occasion she had to remind herself that she needed to eat or starve. Living the way she did she never ate very much, but when she did it still wasn't very much, though it satisfied her hunger all the same.

"Eh? What have we here?" A recognizable lazy, but gentle, voice drifted into her ears like flowing flower petals, "Aren't you a bit far from your squad, Tsukiko-san?"

Tsukiko turned around, finally coming face-to-face with the man that had saved her an earful of an old man's lectures. He was fairly tall and wore a pink haori over his shinigami outfit complete with a straw hat on his head. His hair was black and slightly wavy, she could distinctly see two pinwheel type hairpins in his hair. His hazel eyes bore into her own crimson ones, gently, but still somewhat dangerous, "H-Hai, but…my captain just tried to murder me," She told him flatly as her face faltered.

He laughed at her whole-heartedly, "Mah, well that isn't the first time Zaraki-taichou has tried something along those lines!" He kept laughing, but stopped as he noticed her expression, "Would you like to say something, Tsukiko-san?"

Tsukiko blushed and looked to her left, to avoid eye contact, "Th-Thank you for yesterday!" She shouted out and bowed low in respect, "I really appreciate you standing up for me, Kyoraku-taichou!"

He blinked several times in surprise at her, "Hm. Don't worry about it," He smiled truthfully at her, "It happens! But that must've been one hell of a nightmare to wake seireitei up! Usually captains only wake up their squad or a neighboring squad," he looked at her sullen expression and quickly tried to correct his words, "Ah, I didn't mean it like that! I was only curious about your dream is all," He laughed nervously.

She nodded, "If there's anything I could do to make it up to you, please don't hesitate to ask me! I really do feel grateful," She trailed off, being to shy to say it any louder.

He scratched the back of his neck in thought, "Actually…I am in need of a bit of a favor if you don't mind," he hesitated, "Normally I wouldn't ask, but I'm willing to take advantage of this situation for once. You see Nanao-chan, my vice captain, is a little cranky and it just so happens that I didn't deliver my latest reports to Kuchiki-taichou," He smiled nervously, "If she finds out in that condition, I'm going to get scolded for sure!"

"Eh? Scolded? By your vice captain?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't met her yet, have you?" Tsukiko shook her head, "In any case, could you deliver these?" he pulled a few papers from his haori and handed them to her, "It'd save me a trip I was about to take,"

"Of course!" She took the papers from him, "But is this really it? I mean this doesn't seem like much of a thank you to me,"

"Trust me," He reassured her, "You're a lifesaver. Just wait 'till you meet Nanao-chan. Now, off you go!" He turned her in the direction of squad six and patted her back gently forward to get her going.

"Hai!" She ran off with a flash. Along the way she saw many other people doing the same thing she was. They were all going from one squad to another, delivering papers. Tsukiko smirked and took Renji's words to heart. She figured being a captain or vice captain really did suck in the working area when one had to deal with paper work all day. She landed just outside of the squad and ran to the main office door. She knocked on the door.

"Enter," A familiar monotone voice commanded her. She slid open the door and walked in. In front of her sat Kuchiki Byakuya at a large desk that sat in front of a wide window. To the wall on his right sat Renji at his equally large desk scattered with papers, as opposed to Kuchiki's (which had neat stacks of paper instead of a large mess). Renji stopped his work for a quick second, following her with his eyes. She chose to ignore him and do the task that was assigned to her. Tsukiko walked up to Kuchiki's desk and bowed as she handed over papers.

"Kuchiki-taichou, these documents are from Kyoraku-taichou of squad eight! He apologizes for his tardiness!" Kuchiki took the documents, looked them over quickly, and sighed.

"Though I do appreciate you being able to deliver these documents," He looked up at her sharply, "I do find it a bit odd that he sent you,"

"I just happened to be near by and offered," She shrugged.

"What were you doing so far away from you squad?" He pushed further.

Tsukiko's face faltered once more as she began to fake cry, "Kenpachi-taichou tried to murder me,"

He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and dismissed her. Tsukiko bowed once more and turned to leave. She took one last look at Renji and his clutter. He looked up at her, almost glaring.

"What?"

Tsukiko continued to stare at the mess on his desk, "Your desk is so cluttered…"

"And?" He continued to work on the paper in front of him.

"Can you seriously work like that?" Her eye twitched slightly.

"Yes, and why should you care?" He asked without looking up.

Tsukiko finally had it. She stormed over to his desk and began stacking the papers into a pile, "You know, I don't care if you organize them or not, but at least stack them! That's how things go missing you know!"

"Hey! Who said you could touch those!? Leave my work area be!' He yelled defensively.

"Work area?! This looks more like your closet did!"

"What are you trying to say?!" He slammed his hand on the desk, getting out of his chair to tower above her.

"You know exactly what I'm trying to say!"

"Yeah well you could go shove it up your-"

"Enough!" Kuchiki's voice, instead of being monotone, was angry and irritated, "Both of you get out of this office immediately!" Tsukiko didn't have to hear it twice and quickly walked out the door.

"But, Sir-"

"Out!" Reluctantly, Renji, dragged his feet out of the office. He could feel another deduction in his pay already. He met Tsukiko outside of the door; standing there and looking up at him innocently. She blinked at him a few times.

"This is all your fault," he muttered and walked off. She ran to catch up to him and elbowed him in his shoulder playfully.

"Aw c'mon, Ren-kun! Cheer up! What's your favorite food? Lets go eat!" She smiled at him warmly and ran ahead, her uniform swaying with the breeze. For a moment, just barely, Renji thought he could feel his heart skip, but brushed it off.

**N A K A M A**

"What is it?" Tsukiko stared at the fish shaped bread in her hands. It was really warm and fluffy. She pressed her index finger and her thumb into it several times as she held it. At first she thought it was bread, but when she thought about the fish shape she thought there might've been a fish inside. She would've come to the conclusion if it hadn't of smelled sweet instead of fishy. She stared at it further.

"It called taiyaki," He took a bite of the fish bread. Tsukiko could see a dark red, almost black, paste within it, "It's bread that's shaped like a fish and it has a filling inside. Just try it. You might like it,"

Tsukiko made a strange face at the fish in her hands. The face of a picky eater. She'd never been picky in her entire life of stealing food, but there were just some things you stayed away from. Tsukiko really couldn't figure out what to make of the bread. She gathered up ever ounce of courage in her body and took a decent amount into her mouth. She winced at first. The paste within the bread was a bit foreign to her tastes and was strangely sweet. After chewing it a little bit more she grew used to its strange taste and even begun to like it. She swallowed her first bite.

"Well?" Renji waited for her reaction, taking another bite of his own taiyaki. Tsukiko ignored him for the moment and took another bite greedily. She looked at him in a way that said 'don't steal my taiyaki' and scooted a little further away. Renji chuckled at her reaction, but it quickly died down as a memory filled his mind. He was about to take another bite, but stopped just before it reached his lips. His eyes had a sort of glazed far away look to them. Tsukiko was slightly worried by his sudden change in behavior and waved her hand in front of his face. He didn't react so she ripped off a piece of his taiyaki and ate it. He still hadn't reacted.

"Renji?" She tilted her head slightly to get a better look at his eyes. He finally blinked and looked at her.

"Sorry," His voice was strangely calm and somewhat sad, "It's just…how you acted right now when you had your first bite…Rukia reacted the same way,"

She looked at him in confusion, "Who's Rukia?"

He smiled sadly and chuckled a bit, "She's a friend of mine. We grew up in the 78th district of Rukongai along with a few friends. After all our friends passed away we decided to become shinigami for a better life. The 78th district wasn't all that great. People, including us, stole nearly everyday just to get by. That's why we wanted to become shinigami. After a while of being in the academy she came up to me and told me that a family wanted to adopt her. A noble family no less! I couldn't be happier for her, but I hated it at the same time. She was like family to me, my nakama, I didn't want her to just leave me. But I didn't want to ruin her chances of finally having a family, so I sucked it up and congratulated her,"

"Where is she now?"

"She's in the human world on an assignment. She left the exact same day I became the vice captain of squad six. Which still hasn't been too long by the way," He added with a smile, "When I found you, I was only a few weeks into being a vice captain,"

"I see…who adopted her?" She continued to ask.

"Kuchiki Byakua," Tsukiko nearly choked on her taiyaki, but quickly regained her composure, "He adopted the only woman I would even consider calling my sister. He is the person I want to surpass. That's why I became vice captain of the sixth squad," Renji's eyes were suddenly bold and determined.

Tsukiko looked at her half eaten taiyaki and, without looking up, talked, "Is he really worth it?" He looked over at her sharply, "What happens when you surpass him? You won't get her back as a sister, that is assuming she even really left you alone in the first place,"

"What do you mean?"

"If you really did grow up together and were best friends, even though out the academy, do you really think she would just up and leave you? If anything you're the only brother she would ever truly acknowledge because you were there for her when she needed you most," She smiled up at him, "Keep your resolve if you want, but know that surpassing Kuchiki Byakuya in strength one day won't restore anything but your own pride,"

Renji scoffed, "Fine. I will keep my resolve! I haven't gotten this far for nothing and I'm not about to give in now!"

"And how far is that?" She took another bite of her fish bread.

"As many marks there are on my body," He looked up at the sky.

"And that would be?"

"Che. Who know's! I lost count!"

"Is that why you have all those tattoos on your body?" She ate the rest of her bread and licked her fingers.

"Yeah. Each one is a goal I've set for myself and surpassed," He was about to take another bite of his taiyaki, but stopped once more. He grit his teeth and clenched the fist that wasn't holding the delicious bread, "Tsukiko?" He growled out rather calmly.

"Hm?" She looked over at him.

"Did you take a chunk of my taiyaki?" He opened his eyes and glared at her.

"…No," She lied through her teeth and smiled.

"Then could you please tell me," He pointed to his taiyaki that had a piece missing from the lower left side that he had gotten nowhere near yet and could plainly be seen, "WHY THERE'S A CHUNK OF IT MISSING!!"

"…You ate it," She looked around for an escape route, "When you were talking?" She laughed nervously as he clenched his fist and towered over her.

"Nice try,"

"Oh look! Umm…a duky?" She pointed behind him.

"Do you honestly think I'm that stu-"

"_**QUACK!**_" A duck crashed right into his skull, struggled on the ground for a moment, and flew of once more.

"I told you…" Tsukiko watched as Renji blew a duck feather out of his face only to have it land right on the bridge of his nose. She laughed hysterically, seeing him go cross eyed.

She looked up at the twilight sky, '_Tomorrow's a full moon…I guess I'll have to be ready.'_ She sighed lightly and got up to follow Renji, who stormed off.

**T H E . S O N G . T H A T . T R A V E L S (3)**

Tsukiko stood on top of the roof of the squad eleven training hall. The moon was nearly full, due to the absence of a sliver that had not yet shown itself. She held Tsukiyomi close to her chest and shivered in the cool night air. She slipped Tsukiyomi out of it sheath just slightly, so that only a very small fraction of the blade could be seen. The small fragment of the blade that shone, shimmered in the moon's light. The sword itself almost seemed to glow an eerie light.

"I know you don't like being used in this manner," She pressed her cheek up against its hilt, "But please, tonight carry my voice across the winds. I must apologize for my actions last night," Though it was only slightly, one walking by wouldn't notice it, she began to radiate with the moon's gentle light. Her skin was now a porcelain white instead of cream and would've appeared sickly, if not for her decent life in seireitei. She smiled at her zanpakutou and closed her eyes, still leaning against it, "Thank you," She whispered.

Tsukiko held the sword close to her chest and held her head high as the wind made her hair tickle her cheek. Her voice started out low, but gradually grew louder and louder as Tsukiyomi carried her angelic voice across seireitei. Her gentle song was heard by all. Some stopped to admire the sound, others drifting off into their futons, still many others began to relax from their long and stressful day. Tsukiko's song sounded similar to a lullaby, only much more. The words were so much more meaningful and thought out. Her soprano voice, yet still somewhat more childish than woman-like, was soothing to the ears. Most people in seireitei thought that even a hollow would stop to hear the crystalline melody.

A few people in her squad (those that are among friend status), stopped and looked up on the roof of their training hall to see her glorious moonlit form. Her song soothed the harshest of the angry flames, but warmed the coldest of hearts. It would break the strongest of minds and carry guilt into one's soul. They watched on, never seeing another sight quite like the one in front of them. Tsukiko's song was hopeful yet sad. She had wanted to apologized to seireitei and thank it for allowing her to take refuge within its walls. Tsukiko's tears glistened like diamonds within the moonlight. She had never felt quite so happy for as long as she could remember.

**U R E S H I**

Mori: Gah! I wanted this out yesterday, but I got a bit delayed. Good news! Next week is my finals which means I get out of school at 12:30! Woot! More time for me to write! Bad news, this week is what my school calls 'dead week' which means a crap load of studying and whatnot! DX I don't study! I've never needed to! (sniffle) Not that I'm great in every subject, it's just that the amount of time and effort I put into studying gives me the exact same results as if I were to not study! (sweat drop) Sucks.

Anyway I'm not worried about next week so much. I'm just glad we get out early!

1: Kaguya-hime: The moon princess that came down to earth as a child. Much more info on Wikipedia!

2: AB Blood type: People in Japan do horoscopes according to people's blood type. Type AB is said to have a slight split personality trait. Not like "omg you need meds!" Just like "o.o"

3: The song that travels: This is not the real name of the song that she sings. The real name is Konoyo no Uta. I didn't know what 'konoyo' meant so I didn't put it up there. Instead I sort of renamed the song. (sweat drop) This song was originally from the anime Black Cat and I do not own it.


	5. Chapter 5

Mori: Yay! Thanks Sesshoumara-san and OcGoddess for contantly reviewing! You make my self confidence level go up every time you do! (dances the Luck -Luck Dance)

I'm currently at a loss for this story. NOT COMPLETELY! I have an event all planned out, just not the events leading into the main plot. Boo.

**U N M E I**

"Tsukiko-san now is the time you reveal to us your second zanpakutou. Is there anything you would like to say before allowing the Gotei Thirteen to observe your abilities?" Yamamoto and the others stood in the court yard where Tsukiko and Kuchiki had fought nearly a month ago.

Tsukiko nodded, "If you would allow me to face my own captain, Zaraki Kenpachi-taichou. I have avoided him because I refused to fight him as my captain, but I think now I am able to make it up to him,"

He looked at her. Studying her for a moment, then nodded in a hesitant agreement, "Very well then,"

Zaraki Kenpachi smiled maliciously at her as he took his place a several hundred yards away from where she stood. Even though he could not sense reiratsu very well, he could almost _feel_ the force itself radiate with blood lust and power. His jingling bells shone brightly in the clear, bright full moon. His zanpakutou, although rusted and battered, shone just as brightly as Tsukiko's blade. The wind wrapped around them for an instant, whispering to Tsukiko the secrets of the night's living creatures. All was silent aside from the occasional cricket. She smirked back at her captain, eyes shimmering like priceless rubies.

"Are you ready, Taichou? I won't hold back on you,"

"I never expected you to!" He finally got over excited and rushed forward to attack her. Tsukiko stayed perfectly calm and waited for him to reach her. As soon as he got a bit too close, she raised her zanpakutou to her defense. Tsukiko was slightly taken aback by the amount of spirit pressure her taichou had, as he had not released nearly as much last she ran from him, "You won't even be able to cut me with that piece of crap," He referred to her zanpakutou and continued to make eye contact with her. She gave him an angry glare for calling her precious Tsukiyomi such a name. She released more reiratsu than she had before the battle started, almost equivalent to the night of her nightmare.

"How dare you!" She grit her teeth and pushed him back with the help of a sudden gust of wind. She stood tall and proud; raising Tsukiyomi in the air the way she did to Amaterasu before she released its command. Tsukiyomi glowed like a beacon of light, or a like the illuminating crystal lake water beneath the full moon, "Carry with you the lesser gods of nature. Cry, Tsukiyomi!" A gust of wind swirled itself around the blade in a powerful burst that made her hair and uniform twist wildly. She ran at her captain at an amazing speed. He dogged just in time and backed away from her. His smirk grew into an even bigger grin.

"You're pretty good, kid. For a second there I almost th-" He stopped in the middle of his sentence, feeling his stomach churn in disagreement. The feeling traveled up into his throat and out of his mouth. A metallic taste filled his senses as he leaned over to cough up the blood that had made its way out. He panted and wiped his mouth when he was done, "What," He tried to catch his breath, "What the hell did you do?!"

Tsukiko smirked. Her sword stopped emitting the violent wind that only just appeared a moment ago. She turned to face him, "Do you know what the moon exists for, Taichou?"

"What the hell kind of question is that? Answer the one I asked you!" He snapped.

She ignored him and continued to talk, "The sun exists to give warmth to the world and feed it pure energy. The moon is its exact opposite. The moon does not give, it takes. My Tsukiyomi takes the powers the moon naturally controls over nature. All I did was damage your internal organs by manipulating the oxygen within your body. I didn't do anything too serious of course," She shrugged, but saw the murderous, vicious smile on his face. She glared slightly, in disbelief that he was truly enjoying this fight.

"Heh, so you're a sharp little kid. I'll give you credit for damaging me with that alone," He gripped the hilt of his zanpakutou tightly, "But that alone won't save you,"

Tsukiko's gaze was as cold as steel and bore into the very depths of his soul. She moved almost too quickly for him to see. He barely blocked her attack and glared at her as she got close to his face, "Do you know how many things the moon can control, Taichou?" Her voice was low, cold, and shallow.

"As if I care!" He shoved her back. She flipped in the air a good distance away and ran back to attack him again. She carried her sword at her side, keeping it close to the ground. As she brought it up for a lower attack, a stream of water appeared, concentrated from the molecules in the air, and followed her sword. Again Kenpachi dogged the main weapon, but got hit with its special ability. He glared at the wound slashing across his chest as it bled. He looked back up at her and gave her another creepy smile, "I guess I was wrong. You were able to put a scratch on me after all,"

Tsukiko suppressed a malicious smirk of her own, but failed slightly and resulted in a half frown-half smile. She raised her zanpakutou once more, "The full moon is forever trapped within time, Taichou," The world around them went completely silent. No one moved, no one breathed. Time itself stood completely still for the gods. Then all was right in the world once more. The crickets chirped and the shinigami looked around in confusion, wondering where Tsukiko had gone to. A deep gash made a disgusting hissing sound, leaking our red fluids all over the floor.

"Heh," Kenpachi laughed, "Not bad, kid," Kenpachi dropped to his knee, clutching his side.

Tsukiko walked away from him, unscratched, calmly and let the bitterly harsh breeze push her hair away from her face.

**S U R E T E! (One Month Later)**

_**Grrr!**_

Tsukiko's stomach growled loudly, causing both Yumichika and Ikkaku to look at her. She lay, on the hardwood floor ledge that was just outside of the building, flat on her stomach and looking at nothing in particular. Ikkaku enjoyed his cup of sake and Yumichika simply leaned against a pillar, relaxing until Tsukikio's stomach decided to corrupt the peace. Ikkaku raised an eyebrow at her and lowered his cup of sake from his lips.

"You hungry, kid? Go get something," He raised the cup back up to his lips and took a sip.

"Ew," Tsukiko looked at him from the corner of her eye, "None of you can cook. I'm not really one to talk about how horrible other people's cooking tastes, but this squad seriously can't cook for shit," She sighed, "Besides, I'm craving that tai-stuff,"

"Tai?" Ikkaku gave her a strange look.

"Tai…taimaki or something," She rolled over on her back and looked up at the ceiling.

"That bread shaped like a fish and has filling in it?" Tsukiko nodded, "That's called 'Taiyaki' dumbass!" He laughed lightly at her.

"Shut up," She frowned and pouted.

"Hey! Did you guys hear?!" A member of squad eleven ran up to the three of them, "That Silver Dragonfly Store, the one with all those cool sunshades, is having a contest and giving away some of their best items as prizes!"

"Eh? What kind of contest?" Yumichika spoke up.

"I heard it was an eating contest or something," He rambled on, not noticing Tsukiko's eyes light up.

"Honto!?!" She sat up leaning on all fours, looking at the man with happiness, "Is it really?!" Tsukiko's stomach growled again to show its own excitement for the news. The man blushed a great deal, seeing her cleavage as she leaned over the way she did.

"Ah, H-Hai," He looked away as he noticed the glares he was getting from the other two shinigami.

Tsukiko jumped to her feet and raised her fist in the air, "Yatta! Where is this place? Someone tell me! Or show me! I'm so hungry!" She pranced around the yard in excitement. The shinigami told Yumichika and Ikkaku where it was being held at so that they'd be able to take her. As he turned to leave, he could swear that the two of them where still glaring at his back.

Ikkaku got up, stretched, as did his friend. They began to walk out of their squad, grabbing the prancing Tsukiko by the collar on their way out. At first, she was much too excited to settle down and follow them properly. She would either wander off in the exact opposite direction completely, being too excited was very distracting, or not watching her footing and fell in an ally or pathway. At some point she fell on a group of shinigami and landed safely on their backs.

Tsukiko didn't care much. She was too happy about getting to eat as much as she wanted for a small entry fee and all the food she could eat. Though as she thought about it when following her friends, she really began to think that she was growing a bit too dependant on food itself. She had eaten more than she would ever think possible and craved food every half hour or so. If not a whole meal, then a snack instead. Her body was quickly adjusting to life inside seireitei and a bit too well. It was like she was subconsciously trying to make up for all the years of food she'd never had. It even got as ridiculous to the point where she would eat another person's leftovers if the found themselves too full for another bite. Tsukiko had turned into a glutton and she knew it. She was just glad that she hadn't gotten fat yet as most other people seemed to when they eat plenty.

"Oi, Tsukiko-chan, aren't you gonna go register?" Yumichika waved a hand in front of her face. She immediately snapped out of her thoughts and looked around. The place, still within seireitei walls, was bustling with people and performers. Certain booths sold different types of shades from within the Silver Dragonfly store and others served fresh food and drinks. Tsukiko wasn't sure she'd ever seen a bazaar quite so large and excited, "Tsukiko-chan?" Yumichika asked again.

"Uh…Hai! Where is it?" She looked left and right.

"Right over there," He turned and pointed behind him. A booth with several people sitting at it, held a flag that said 'Eating Contest Sign Ups' and had pens and lined sheets on every corner of the stand.

Tsukiko nodded to him, "Thanks, Ayasegawa-kun, I'll be over there then,"

"Hai," He confirmed in a bored tone and flinched as someone bumped into his shoulder. He wiped away the invisible grime as his eyes followed Tsukiko somewhat protectively. As a brother would watch his little sister on the playground, making sure she wasn't getting kidnapped or hurt.

"Oi, Yumichika! Guess who I found! Though I'm not that surprised to be honest," Ikkaku walked up to his friend, dragging Renji along, "You are a fan of this particular store, Renji," He smirked.

Renji scoffed and folded his arms, "What are you two doing here anyway?"

"Heh, the brat's being picky about squad eleven's meals," Ikkaku rested his hands at the back of his head.

"So she's decided to enter the eating contest," Yumichika finished.

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow at them, "Then where is she?"

"Are you stupid?" Yumichika retorted and turned to point at the booth she ran off to, "She's right over-" He stopped in mid sentence, realizing he was wrong. She wasn't where she said she'd be.

"Yumichika," Ikkaku's voice was dangerous. His feather-eyed friend had his back to the other two shinigami, but could feel their reiratsu full of blood lust for his soul.

"Oi! Ayasegawa-kun! Madarame-kun! Over here!" Tsukiko waved from her seat at one of the contestant's tables. Feeling much calmer, the three walked over to her, but stopped short as the rope marking the boundary of the contest had told them they could not go any further, "Ah! Ren-kun! You're here too?" She smiled at the tree of them.

Ikkaku got angry at her, but was not serious by much, "Idiot! Why'd you run off like that?!"

"Because they told me to take a seat with the other contestants," She replied sweetly and innocently, blinking as if nothing was wrong. Ikkaku faltered and leaned against the railing, holding his hand to his pounding head and wondering how in seven hells she became a member of squad eleven, "Ah! It's starting!" Tsukiko sat with her hands in her lap happily, kicking her feet and forth like a child, and waited patiently for the start command. As the waitresses were handing out food, a man in charge of the store walked up on the stage and introduced the prizes. Third place won tickets to an all you can eat buffet. Second place won a large discount coupon to the store. Finally first place won two pairs of the store's latest design in sunshades. They wouldn't show what they looked like, but Tsukiko assumed they were okay looking since people began to mummer in whispers at the announcement of the newest sunshades. Tsukiko didn't care. She just wanted to eat her fill and be done with it; nothing more.

Tsukiko's mouth began to water at the smell of delicious food being brought to them. When the food was placed in front of her, she clenched her fists tightly so as not to attack the food with her might. When the whistle sounded, she dug in. The people of seireitei really didn't know what they were up against, just then.

**G L U T T O N**

"I… I can't believe it," Tsukiko bounded happily down the street, her belly fully satisfied. Renji stared in disbelief at the box she carried, almost carelessly, by the string, "You actually won?!"

"Mah, Tsukiko-chan, I didn't know you could eat so much," Yumichika pouted cutely, "You're a little glutton is what you are!" He was beaming; shaking his finger in fake disparagement. He was happy that she'd won, but more so that Ikkaku and Renji had forgotten all about killing him.

"Che," Ikkaku scoffed, "Who knew," He used his arms as a net to hold the back of his head as they continued to walk. He smirked, suddenly thinking of something, "Too bad, Renji. Weren't those the ones you were planning on getting? They weren't even issued to come out until next year,"

"Shut it," Renji glared at his friend.

"Hm?" Tsukiko turned her head slightly to look back at Renji, "Ren-kun, you wanted these?" She held up the box by the string.

Renji folded his arms and looked away from her, "So what?"

She blinked twice at him before deciding, "Think fast!" She threw him the box. He fumbled with it a bit, but caught it; its contents perfectly unharmed.

"What?! Why are you giving these away?! Stupid! You know these are expensive right!?"

"I thought you wanted them," She continued to stare ahead, not looking at any one of them.

"Well yeah, but-"

"Then keep them," She shrugged, "I have no use for them. I don't really like wearing shades, so they'd just be sitting in a room collecting dust or something,"

Renji looked at the other two shinigami beside him to see if he really wasn't hearing things. They too stared in disbelief and he looked back at her backside, "Are you…you're serious right?"

She stopped walking and turned back to them, "Of course I am!" She almost glared at him, "Don't be stupid! Why not give them to a friend if I won't end up using them, but my friend will! It only makes sense!"

"Oi…Tsukiko," Ikkaku began, "…How is it you're in squad eleven again?"

"Eh? What do you mean?" She frowned and put her hands on her hips. Ikkaku immediately put his hands up in his defense and tried to explain himself.

"What Ikkaku means," Yumichika interfered, "Is that you're much too kind to have the…mental capacity to be in this squad particularly. Most people probably would've sold those shades to the highest bidder, not given them away,"

"Is that wrong?"

"No! No!" He replied quickly, "It's just a bit…unusual now days," He smiled at her.

"I see," She let his words sink in, before getting a light punch on top of her head from Renji, "What was that for?!" She glared at him, but her expression softened looking at his. There was something in his eyes she hadn't seen before. Tsukiko couldn't place her finger on it, but she knew she'd seen it somewhere before. The way his eyes softened and made his irises stand out in the sun more, as if shimmering.

"C'mon, Tsuki," He turned, slinging the box over his shoulder, "The taiyaki stand is probably still open," Yumichika and Ikkaku looked at each other, confused as to what was going on between the two. Tsukiko looked at his back for a long moment, but bid her squad members goodbye and followed after Renji.

Renji bought Tsukiko and himself a taiyaki and made their way back to squad six. They munched in uncomfortable silence as they walked. Tsukiko would, occasionally, steel glances at him. She wondered what he was thinking. He was much too quiet for her liking. He was usually loud and overly confident with a somewhat cocky attitude. Not quiet and thoughtful, like he was now. She wanted to ask what was wrong. She would have, but her inner thoughts found it rather rude to ask such personal questions. Her mind drifted back to the day her and Yachiru had played tag together. She had pried into his personal matters then too. Perhaps that was why he was so distant to her at times.

When they arrived, they still said nothing to one another. Even when they reached the room; still nothing was said between the two. Renji retreated to his table, looking at a few magazines. Tsukiko mostly kept herself occupied by cleaning up after him, having nothing better to do. Today, unfortunately, there was nothing to clean up after. She looked around for a moment, and then decided to open the second door leading to the gardens. She sat at the opening of the door and looked out at the scenery. Several flowers swayed in the breeze along with the grass. Several flower petals touched one pond, creating a corruption within the still waters, then dieing down. Another pond contained a sliced bamboo piece that would fill itself with water and pour it back out into the pond, making a hollow sound as it crashed down against the rocks every few seconds. Tsukiko's mind drifted, as the bamboo's sound echoed across the garden. Her eyes became half lidded, as if sleepy.

"What are you thinking…" Tsukiko jumped slightly. She hadn't noticed Renji take the empty spot to her right. His eyes, at first glance, were back to their usual fiery look, but if one looked at them for more than a moment they would notice that Renji's eyes were just as thoughtful as before. He blinked several times, studying her expression.

"Nothing really," She stared back at him, studying his expressions as well. Her eyes darted all over his face, searching desperately for an answer to her question. She couldn't find any.

"What?" Tsukiko hesitated in telling him. She was afraid that he'd get mad at her and push her away if she asked, "What is it?" Renji was getting frustrated with her, "You look like you wanna ask something, so just ask," His demanding voice coaxed her into asking him.

"I was just…thinking is all," She looked away and back at the garden, "I wanted to know if something was wrong. You seemed really different and almost out of character,"

"Out of character?" Renji looked in the same direction, leaned against the door frame, and folded his arms into his sleeves.

She shrugged lightly, "I'm not sure. You just don't really seem the thoughtful type," She admitted honestly. Renji silently grit his teeth, but also had to agree with her. He knew he was acting strange, even for himself. This girl calmed every one of his senses. She made him feel at ease and as if everything would always be okay. She warmed his soul without realizing it. Like lying under a shady tree, but as soon as you turned your back, the sun warmed it lovingly. Most of all he felt as if the moon was no longer out of his reach.

"You're so different," He muttered out, just loud enough for her to hear, "I'm not sure I even thought it though all the way, but…"

"But what?" She urged him to go on, without looking at him. She heard him shifting, but paid him no mind. She felt a gentle finger place itself under her chin and forced her to look in his direction.

"I'm still not sure," He whispered. She blushed a deep shade of crimson. She remembered the look in his eyes from earlier. Where she had seen it and why it was so familiar to her own eyes as he looked at her in such a way. She'd seen in many times in her travels. It was the look of a man with feelings for his significant other. It was always the same look before their lips met, each time. Though she hadn't seen it in every couple, she'd seen it in many. She could feel his hot breath tickling her lips gently. Tsukiko could feel her heart beating rapidly within her chest, waiting to burst from her ribcage.

"Ren…ji," She breathed out just before he caught her lips in a passionate, lusty kiss. Renji could feel his heart pounding and pumping blood to every corner of his body. He felt like he would just suffocate from the amount of passion weld up within him. Her lips were soft and timid; clearly inexperienced and innocent. He could feel her shaking with uncertainty and uneasiness beneath his fingers and held her neck in place.

Tsukiko couldn't process what was happening to her fast enough. If she thought her heart was going to burst from her ribcage just a second ago, then surely it would've leaped out and flopped away by now if it could. His lips were gentle and passionate against her own. She could feel his feelings for her, but couldn't comprehend them. Tsukiko was not a well-loved person. She lived not knowing companionship or anything else. For as long as she could remember, it was always just her and her zanpakutou. She didn't know what to call this feeling deep within her body. She didn't know if it was love, lust, passion or any other rich emotion normal people seemed to share. She'd never experienced such things, therefore never knew. Although she did know one thing at that very moment. It felt right. It felt good. Tsukiko finally closed her eyes and gave in.

After a long moment of kissing Tsukiko, Renji began to think he was pushing her too far and was about to pull away when he felt her kiss him back with passion equivalent to his own. He resumed kissing her, let go of her neck and held her by the small of her back.

**A I S H I T E R U**

Renji felt something shift from within his grasp. He groaned a bit and held it to his chest tighter. It was soft and warm, most of all huggable. He didn't want to lose whatever it was. He felt warm, soft, and moist lips touch his own. He reacted by leaning into it more. He remembered now. After their little mutual confession, they lied upon the futon, holding one another in perfectly comfortable silence. Soon they even fell asleep like that. He felt her pull away from him and sit up a bit. Renji opened his eyes, blinking back the sunlight that filtered his room. She was a blurry figure at first, but once his vision perfected, he nearly lost it. His robe was beginning to slide past her shoulders and opened a bit wider than normal. She smiled down at him, so innocently and gently that he could not possibly take advantage of her. He looked back up, still somewhat groggy and smiled.

"Morning," She whispered and leaned in closely, kissing him once more.

"Mm," Was his morning greeting before deepening the kiss further. She smiled into the kiss and rested her hand against his bare chest (his own robe becoming disgruntled as well in the late night). They parted, gasping for breath, "Would you hate me for taking advantage of you?" He was blunt and honest in his question.

She chuckled, "Probably not. Why?"

"Good," He rolled them over and pinned her down, "I'm taking advantage now," He kissed her lips at first, but made his way down her jaw line and to her neck. Tsukiko blushed violently at the new feelings being awakened from her body. He licked the base of her neck, making her shiver slightly.

"Abarai fuku-taichou! You're going to-" The door to his room opened unexpectedly. The same kid who couldn't catch the hell butterflies, stood half frozen to his spot, "-be late…to work…"

"What the hell are you doing?! Don't you know how to fucking knock?! Get out!" Renji yelled at him viciously, scaring him away and closing the door in the process. He sat up, getting off of Tsukiko, and muttered curse words under his breath. Tsukiko sat up as well, still somewhat flustered from what just happened. He sighed and got up, "C'mon. We'd better get going," She nodded and began to dress.

**F I R S T . M I S S I O N**

"Oi," Ikkaku greeted from his small coffee table full of papers, "Where've you been? You're late,"

"Gomen ne," Tsukiko sat down opposite of him lazily, "I woke up late. Need help?"

"Yeah," He was currently too occupied to ask her anything else, or even pay attention to her slightly odd behavior, "Take that pile right there. Use your better judgment to decide if it's worth a captain signing or not,"

"Hai," She grabbed the pile nearest to her and began to work diligently. She was grateful for the amount of paperwork there was that day, considering she needed to take her mind off of what happened not too long ago. She, though she hated to admit it, was confused on the situation entirely. Her mind couldn't process that he had feelings for her because she didn't even know what to call those feelings or if she even had them as well. Sudden wave resentment washed over her like ice water. She hated not knowing her past or what happened to her. She hated the fact that she knew almost nothing about life or other people. She loathed the fact that she'd been alone for so many years. When she saw other shinigami talk animatedly to each other on a daily basis, jealousy took over her mind and envied that she couldn't be like that with the others. She disliked the fact that she hadn't gone through the academy and obtained friends there like other shinigami.

"Please excuse my presence if I am interrupting something of importance," A messenger appeared in the door outside and opened it. He sat on his knees and bowed, "But this is an approved order from Yamamoto-soutaichou sama,"

"What is it?" Ikkaku looked up from his paper work and Tsukiko stopped to listen.

"Ukitake-taichou requested the use of a squad eleven member to retrieve a member of his own squad that has yet to report in or return from the world of the living,"

"Who is it?" Ikkaku questioned further.

"Her name is Kuchiki Rukia. She has had no contact with the soul society for over a month. If you could volunteer a member of your squad please,"

Ikkaku thought for a moment, but was interrupted by Tsukiko, "I'll go,"

"What?" Ikkaku looked at her sharply, whipping his head in her direction.

"I'll go," She repeated, "I am a member of this squad with not much else to do and it just so happens that me being available for this assignment is pretty convenient. Why not?"

Ikkaku studied her carefully. His gut told him something was up, but pushed the feeling away seeing as he couldn't find any evidence to prove it. He sighed and nodded his head, "Fine," He turned his attention back to the messenger, "Tell Ukitake-taichou that I am sending squad eleven, fourth seat, Tsukiko to retrieve Kuchiki Rukia from the world of the living. She will leave immediately,"

"Very good, Sir," He bowed once more and vanished from sight.

Tsukiko excused herself to obtain a hell butterfly and cross between the two worlds. At first she didn't know why she'd volunteered herself. It was more of an impulse than anything. She thought on it a bit more and came up with an answer as a single image flashed through her mind. _'That's right'_ she thought, _'My last memory, before I woke up a shinigami, was in the living world.'_ Tsukiko clenched her fists and bit the inside of her lip. Her heart pounded from nervous anticipation. Even though she was supposed to be on a mission, she had the chance to figure out a little bit about herself. Whether it was good or bad, she wanted to know what she was like, what her life was like. The brown and white tabby kitten from her memories purred against her face in her memory, as if to say 'don't forget me!' Her eyes softened slightly at the memory. She clung to it, like a child to its mother.

**H E L L O**

Tsukiko stared in awe at the sight before her. Karakura city was incredible! There were buildings made out of metal, machines that zoomed by on the streets loudly. People talked on their cell phones as they walked down the street in their business suits. Teenage girls walked down the street in uniform, talking excitedly to one another, while the guys in uniform fooled around just ahead of them. She looked around and hopped down to the park, at ground level with most of the other humans. She'd been told, along with her instructions to retrieve Rukia, that most people in the living world probably wouldn't be able to see her because of their low spiritual pressure.

She wandered through the park and looked around curiously. At its center was a large fountain that sprouted water at the top and released it into a large base that held every ounce of the water. She looked into the fountain and saw many different coins shining at the bottom. She looked to her left and saw a little girl and her mother leaning over the fountain. The little girl tugged on her mother's dress.

"Mama," Her voice was childish and extremely cute, in Tsukiko's opinion, "Can I have a coin? I wanna make a wish! Pretty please?" The mother chuckled at how adorable her daughter was being and handed her a coin. The little girl held it between her two palms, as if she was praying and as soon as she was done wishing, she threw it into the water.

Tsukiko watched them leave happily and looked at the coin the little girl had tossed into the water. It floated on the surface for a second and was being pushed around by the water that spurted from the fountain's tip. It began to slowly be pushed beneath the water's surface and sink lower and lower. Tsukiko couldn't help feel that she was no different. That she too was being pushed under countless currents and being forced to remain at the bottom of the small pool.

"Oi, Ichigo! Just take some change from here! There's enough to buy us the whole row of taiyaki!" A teenaged boy with short brown hair ran up to the fountain and reached his hand into it to take out a coin or two. As soon as the water went past his elbow, he grunted and pulled his hand out without a single coin, "Ugh! I didn't expect it to be so far down!" He shook his hand free of water.

"Idiot," A boy with orange hair walked up, not noticing her, followed by a girl with short black hair and a guy with short black hair. Both were equally short and petite.

"Keigo," The boy with short black hair spoke up to the one who'd reached for a coin, "You gotta roll up your sleeve first or else it'll get wet,"

"Here," The boy with orange hair rolled up his sleeve and stuck his hand in the water, "I'll get it,"

"Yay! Go Ichigo!" Keigo jumped around, a bit too excitedly.

Ichigo was much closer to the bottom than Keigo had been and was about to reach for a certain coin, before Tsukiko yelled out, "Don't! Not that one!" To her surprise, he stopped suddenly and looked right at her. Surprise was written all over both their faces as they stared each other down, "You…can see me?

"Ichigo? What's up?" The boy with short black hair looked at him. Ichigo turned his head back to the fountain.

"Nothing, Izuro," He replied and avoided the one the shinigami had cried out for and went for another one, "Here," He handed the coin to Keigo and looked at the spot where the shinigami had been. She was no longer standing there, "Oi, Rukia," he looked over to the girl with black hair, "Lets go,"

"Eh?! Where do you two think you're going?!" Keigo shouted.

"Shut up, your so noisy," Ichigo picked his ear with his pinky to get his eardrum going again, "We got stuff to do. Later," He waved as he left while Rukia curtsied and followed after him.

Tsukiko heard the entire conversation while hiding behind a tree. Her eyes widened as the thought finally hit her. This was Renji's Rukia. The girl he had told her about. The girl that was like family to him. She sighed inwardly for several reasons. For one thing she never expected to find her target so fast, therefore she didn't have a lot of time to find out anything about herself. Another thing was that if she ended up seriously injuring Rukia, then he might not forgive her. Her orders were very vague, but clearly stated that if the target gave any sort of resistance then she was allowed to use any force necessary.

Tsukiko scratched her shoulder. A seal was placed on her powers. She was told that mostly captain or vice captain class shinigami were forced to wear limiters, but her case was an acceptation. One other thing that irked her was that instead of an eighty percent power decrease, they placed a ninety percent decrease on her, making the mark a little less bearable. She made the decision to ignore her target for the next few hours and gather as much information as she could. Whatever little information there was, she wanted it desperately.

**D E T A T C H M E N T**

"Oi, Rukia," Ichigo handed her a tray of food and sat at his desk, "Who was that girl earlier? Was she a shinigami too?"

"Of course," She answered calmly taking a bit of rice in her mouth.

"What's she doing here? I thought you were assigned to this area,"

"The soul society has probably presumed me dead by now," She lied not looking at him, "They probably just sent someone else to take my place," Rukia knew the truth, but refused to tell him anything. She'd never seen the girl they saw in the park earlier before, but knew that what she suspected was true was the most possible reason. After school was over, Rukia knew what she had to do. She'd already begun to detach herself from this world, but found it quite difficult at the moment.

**C H U U**

Mori: Whew! This took me a little while 'cause I got writer's block half way through! (sniffle) But everything's good now! Yay! Anyhow! Don't forget to review!


	6. Chapter 6

Mori: Hey guys! Guess what episode I just finished watching for no reason whatsoever! (crosses arms) BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Pfft! LMAO I just think that "catch phrase" is so retarded, but worth doing! XD Retarded ass Don Kan'onji…XD

Anyway thanks for your reviews! Mucho appreciated! Those of you that are reviewing anyway (shrugs) oh well I do have my alerts/favorites on so I know more people are reading my story than the ones that review.

**N A N D E?**

Tsukiko ran through the city streets. She refused to jump on top of the buildings even though it would've been much faster. Though if she did, then she might've missed something that would help jog her memory. It was already noon and Tsukiko decided to wait until night fell in order to go after Rukia. She searched high and low, desperately trying to find some sort of familiar sight or action. She sighed and sat down on the grass, in front of her a riverbank and behind her stood a row of houses just across the street. She didn't know what she was thinking. It could've been years, or centuries even, before she died and became a shinigami. Though her fleeting memory told her that it wasn't that long ago. I could've been years, yes, but not centuries. Things in the background of her memory were too modern for it to be so far back.

_**Crash!**_

Tsukiko whipped her head around, hearing the sound of breaking glass coming from one of the houses. A girl stormed out of the house with a much older man yelling after her and shaking his fist. They were quite loud, even some of the neighbors peaked behind their curtains to catch a glimpse. Tsukiko's heart stopped pumping blood throughout her body at that very moment. Her eyes became glazed over and carried a far away look with them.

'_Where the hell were you?!' A harsh, demanding voice spat saliva across my face. His hand yanked the hair on top of my head upwards to make my eye level with him. His breath smelled of stale alcohol and his teeth were in no better condition, presumably from smoking. His eyes were bloodshot and his itchy beard, along with the wrinkles of aging, emphasized his crude and disgusting manner._

'_A-At school,' I answered, my voice meek and cracking under pressure. It surprised me that I cowered before this man as if he could kill me in an instant. Though back then I wasn't a shinigami, so it made more sense that way. He growled and shoved me to the ground. He stomped off down the hall, muttering something about how useless I was. I rubbed the top of my head, wondering why it hadn't ripped off from the man's forceful grip._

'_GYAHH!' His voice rang out as I took off my shoes near the door and stepped into the main hall, 'Worthless piece of shit cat!' He kicked the brown and white tabby and it flew half across the room. It hit the wall with a __**'thud'**__ and landed on its paws. The cat hissed angrily at him, 'You little piece of shit!' He charged after the cat, but I quickly stopped him and allowed the cat to run away upstairs. The man began to turn his anger on me instead, striking me to the floor and kicking my stomach over and over again._

'_Dad,' I gasped as he kicked me forcefully, sending a wave of pain through my body, 'Dad, stop! Please!' he gave several more rough blows to my stomach and spit at me before leaving. I didn't dare make a sound as I got up and ran to my room. I shut the door behind me, locked it, and began to cough up a horde of blood into my bathroom sink. I panted for breath and washed it down the drain while washing my face. I felt the cat weaving in between my legs and purring. Every so often he would gently ram his head into my leg. I crouched down and picked him up, cradling him in my arms. He meowed up at me, continuing to purr, and I began to cry slightly, 'Oh, Aki-kun,' I rubbed my forehead against his, 'You gotta be more careful okay?' He laid his ears flat on each side of his head and mewed. I laughed slightly and continued to stay in my fetal position, keeping my cat close to my chest like a stuffed animal._

Tsukiko blinked. She realized she wasn't breathing and gasped, taking in a deep long breath. Her body was shaking and beginning to sweat. She knew before she left seireitei, that her memory might even be an unpleasant one, but this was just shocking to her. She was sure there were much more horrible sights in her past life than that and tried to brush it off. She bit her lip and shivered, though there was no breeze. Her head was spinning and she felt quite nauseous. She felt as if she was going to be sick at any moment. She tried continuously to keep her last meal down by any means, but the feeling was so overwhelming it felt as if her body would win.

She froze as cold metal was placed upon her cheek. It wasn't sharp or pointed in anyway and it was paper thin, so she didn't think too much of it, but still wondered who had enough spiritual pressure to see her, "Dink this, it'll help," The voice was feminine and strong, yet ever so kind and almost monotone. Tsukiko looked up wearily and saw Kuchiki Rukia standing next to her with an aluminum can that gave off a fizzing sound.

"What is it?" Tsukiko was in no mood to argue and she took it, eyeing the drink.

"It's called soda," She folded her blue dress beneath her legs and sat down beside Tsukiko, "It's a strange drink the humans made. It's funny at first, but you get used to it and it really does help if you're not feeling well,"

Tsukiko took a big long gulp, but had to stop halfway. She pulled the drink away from her lips and kicked her legs around, "Ah! It feels so strange! What's it doing to my throat?" Tsukiko whined, but stopped as the feeling vanished instantly from her throat and her head felt as good as new.

Rukia chuckled slightly at the shinigami before her, "I told you, but it helped didn't it?"

Tsukiko blushed and nodded, "Yeah, thanks," There was a mutual silence between the two as they looked up into the twilight. The sun was quickly disappearing and the stars were making their entrance along with the well known celebrity: The Moon, "I guess you know why I'm here," she stated softly.

Rukia nodded, "Yes, I do. Are you going to attack me?"

"Are you going to put up a fight?"

"I don't see a reason to,"

"Then neither do I," Tsukiko took another drink of the soda.

Rukia looked over at her, studying her for a brief moment, "What's your name? What squad?"

"Squad eleven, fourth seat, Tsukiko," She answered and drank a bit more.

Rukia's eyes went wide, "You're a squad eleven member?"

Tsukiko scratched her cheek and laughed nervously, "Yeah, kinda surprising huh?"

"A bit, yes. There aren't many female members in that squad. In fact the only one I know of is Yachiru fuku-taichou,"

Tsukiko turned and smiled at her, "I like you, Rukia-chan! You're not like your brother at all! I can see why Ren-kun still holds you close," Rukia was about to ask her what she meant, but was cut off as Tsukiko stood up and dusted herself off, "Alright!" She stretched, "Are you ready to go back? It's a shame," She put her hands on her hips and pouted, looking up at the full moon of the human sky, "The moon almost seems a bit more lively on this side. I didn't think I'd be leaving is soon," She grabbed Rukia's wrist and began to walk off, "Lets go, Rukia-chan,"

"M-Matte!" She tried to wriggle her way free, but Tsukiko held on tightly.

"Eh? What's with you all of a sudden? I thought you weren't gonna put up a fight?" Tsukiko continued to drag her along. She stopped as a glowing arrow shot past her, making her hair fly in several different directions for a split second. She looked back, still holding onto Rukia, and saw a teenaged boy with short black hair, glasses and bandages on his arm. In one arm he carried a shopping bag with a sunflower on it. She glared at him, "You can see me," She stated and shook her head, "Man, what is with this town? So weird to have so many people with good reiratsu running around. Who are you? You have no business with me. Leave," She waved a hand at him and was about to walk off again, but stopped as he shot another arrow at her. She unsheathed Tsukiyomi and blocked the attack.

"I'm a classmate of Rukia's," He pushed his glasses up with his index finger, "One who hates shinigami,"

Tsukiko released Rukia and gripped her zanpakutou tightly, "Is that so?" She smirked, "You picked the wrong shinigami to mess with then, kid,"

Rukia darted out in front of her and shielded the man with her arms, "No! Stop! He has nothing to do with this! Just leave him be!" Tsukiko stopped just before she struck Rukia. Tsukiko wanted to avoid damaging her at any cost.

She growled and turned her back, "Fine. Lets go then, Rukia," Tsukiko quickly blocked another arrow and glared at him intently.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Before he could react in the slightest, Tsukiko reappeared in front of him and sliced his side. The wound wasn't deep, but was enough to immobilize him.

"My ass. You're not my superior. Shove off, kid," Tsukiko turned her back to him once more, "I'm only letting you live because Rukia requested it, but if you continue to interfere then I have full permission to eliminate you," She was about to walk off, but he quickly grabbed the leg of her hakama and stopping her from getting any further. She gave him the most intent glare she could muster, "You must really want to die," She raised Tsukiyomi halfway and brought it down, fully prepared to take his life.

"No! Tsukiko-san! Please don't!" She heard Rukia cry out, but ignored her. Suddenly sensing another, much larger reiratsu attacking her, she kicked his hand away and jumped back just before a wave of reiratsu struck her. She looked to her right to see the orange haired kid from earlier. Only this time he was wearing a shinigami's uniform and carried an enormous zanpakutou that was even larger than his own body, "Ichigo!" Rukia cried out, "What are you doing here?! Idiot! I told you to hide yourself!"

"Oi," He greeted casually and looked towards Tsukiko, "I don't know what the hell you think your doin', but your not taking Rukia anywhere," He glared at her and swung his zanpakutou at her. She blocked it with Tsukiyomi.

A sudden smile made its way to her lips. She began to laugh out loud, still blocking his attack. Ichigo's face looked utterly confused, but hardened once more seeing her return back to being serious, "Are you kidding?! _You're_ a shinigami?" She laughed again and pushed him back, "Just look at your zanpakutou! I bet you don't even know its name! You're no more a shinigami than I am!" She laughed at him once more.

"What are you talking about? You name your zanpakutou?"

"Che," She scoffed at him, "I take that back. You'll never even be close to becoming half of whatever I am," She swung Tsukiyomi over her shoulder; it happily glinted in the moonlight, "Listen up. I'm going to take Rukia back to Soul Society to be judged and you, or anyone else, aren't going to get in my way. Understand?"

"Ha," Ichigo took a fighting stance and smiled at her, "Right, like I'm really going to let you just walk away like that,"

"Hm," Tsukiko gave him a mocking smile and took her stance as well, "Fine, but keep in mind that I'll kill you when I get the chance,"

"_If_ you get the chance," He charged at her, ready to strike her down.

"Stupid," She rolled her eyes and blocked his attack with ease. She scoffed, thinking of her position. Tsukiko thought that there wasn't the slightest chance that Ichigo would be able to defeat her, especially since it was the night of the full moon. She pushed him back and raised her sword, letting it glow beneath the moon, "Carry with you the lesser gods of nature. Cry, Tsukiyomi!" She swung her sword down upon his own zanpakutou. At first Rukia thought it odd that nothing happened when she released her zanpakutou, not even a physical change to the sword itself, but her eyes widened seeing its ability crawl across the floor and make its way to Ichigo.

"Ichigo! Move!" Rukia cried out.

"Too late," Tsukiko smirked at Ichigo's confused expression. He felt something travel up over his hakama and grip him tightly. He looked down for a moment seeing wood and vines curl themselves around him, attempting to strangle him. He cursed and pushed her back, "It's too late for you," She dropped her guard, "Those branches and vines are held by the billions of the lesser spirits that serve the gods. There's no way a human like you would be able to-" He cut her off in mid sentence, breaking free from his bonds using an exceptional amount of reiratsu and stabbing her near her shoulder.

"Heh," He pulled the blade out and took a stance, "I'm sorry, I was too busy getting out of there. Go on, you were saying something about not being able to do it,"

"Damn it," Tsukiko cursed and tried to heal up the wound with basic kidou. Unfortunately, Ichigo didn't give her a chance and struck her again. Tsukiko was already partially wounded and was caught off guard when he decided to attack her while she was healing. She dogged his next attack, but her own leg wasn't swift enough.

**R E P O R T **

"Kuchiki-taichou! Abarai-fukutaichou! Please excuse my intrusion, but this message was just received from squad twelve and has been approved by soutaichou-sama as an urgency!" A messenger relayed to them in one breath.

"What is it?" Kuchiki looked up from his desk as did Renji.

"Earlier today, Squad Eleven, fourth seat, Tsukiko-san was dispatched to the world of the living to obtain Kuchiki Rukia," Renji's eyes went wide. He hadn't known this until just now. He clenched his fist and kept quiet, "About fifteen minutes ago, surveillance reported that she was seen fighting the human that took Kuchiki-san's powers, with Kuchiki-san at the scene. You've been requested by Ukitake-taichou, instead of the keigun (1), to retrieve both Tsukiko-san and Kuchiki-san," He finished explaining.

"If it is an approved order than fine, but tell me," Kuchiki's voice was just as monotone as ever, "Why is it that we are being requested, if a squad eleven member was already dispatched?"

The messenger hesitated for a moment, "Reports say that, Tsukiko-san is having…difficulties,"

"What?!" This, Renji could not hold his tongue on.

**R E Q U I E M . F O R . T H E . L O S T . O N E S**

Time seemed to freeze as Tsukiko fell to her knees on the cold cement. The rain began to fall, washing the blood of her wounds into a nearby sewage. She'd never imagined he would be so strong, especially for one human living with borrowed shinigami powers. _'Then again'_ she thought, staying frozen to her spot _'My power was held back by ninety percent. Still. For a human to be this strong…_ Tsukiko's eyes held a far away look as she thought. Tsukiyomi was implanted in the ground several feet away from her right _'This almost feels like that one night'_ She thought back when Renji first found her lying in a pool of her own blood, half dead. She remembered that night clearly and pictured what her dying body might've looked like. The thought of imagining her dead body on the ground sent a sudden shiver down her spine. Her face grew hot and her hands began to shake feverishly. Her breathing became shallow and ragged.

'_Aoiyuki!' A feminine voice called out. It was extremely faint because of the rain's constant hiss against my ears. I was looking up at the sky, lying on the muddy ground, not caring what kind of surface I was on at the moment. My chest and stomach ached really bad; too much so to move even an inch. Not only did it ache, but it burned too. It wasn't just a mental feeling, it's as if those areas were being torn open with bare nails, it was almost unbearable. 'Aoiyuki?! Is that really you?!' I heard the girl scream in surprise and horror, 'What happened!? Someone call an ambulance!' She shouted to someone not too far behind her. She bend down and tried to cover the burning spots with her hands as best she could, 'What happened? Who did this to you?!'_

_I looked at her, slowly lifting my eyes away from the nothingness. From what I could tell, she was wearing the same school uniform I was. Navy vest with a white shirt underneath. A deep rich color brown skirt along with navy socks that reached just below her knees and brown shoes. I couldn't see her face very clearly because of the heavy rainfall. I heard many people yelling behind her, but she paid them no mind and kept all of her focus on me entirely._

'_Aoiyuki-san! It's me Asaka-san! We're in the same class!' Her face turned into a bitter frown and tears escaped from their prison, 'Please, Aoiyuki-san, don't die,' She whispered so that only I could hear. I stared at her with an empty expression, 'I never got the chance to work up the courage to ask you,' My eyes opened a little bit more, slightly interested in what this girl had to say, 'I wanted to be your friend,' She choked out and held my body close to hers, cradling it._

_I didn't know why I did it. It must've been because I felt sorry for the girl, or perhaps it was because of some unknown guilt that I hadn't remembered yet. I looked back up at the sky and spoke just loud enough for her to hear, 'One day, when the moon is bright and full and you could see it clearly in the sky,' I stopped to cough up blood, 'I'll try my best to come visit you then,' I smiled at her the best I could and a tear escaped my eye, 'Gomen nasai,' I whispered and let my life slip away._

"Oi! I know you're not finished yet!" Ichigo yelled out, "Are you still gonna fight me?" Tsukiko made her way back to reality, but her eyes still carried a far of look, empty almost.

"No, I will!" A familiar voice rang out. A figure jumped down from the telephone pole right in front of Tsukiko. His glare alone meant to kill Ichigo.

"Renji!" Rukia stepped back in surprise, "Abarai Renji! Is it really you?"

Renji scoffed and glanced at her, "No, it's Chappy (2). Who do ya think?" He turned his back to them and kneeled down next to Tsukiko, "Hey," He called softly to her. She looked up at him, emptily. He cupped her cheek with his right hand. She, unknowingly, flinched at his touch. He glared, though not at her, "Are you okay? Who did this to you?" She wouldn't answer him. She couldn't. For some strange reason she couldn't find her voice and tell him that she would be okay. He growled and stood up, facing Ichigo, "Are you the one who did this to her?"

"So what if I did? I had every right to protect myself didn't I?" Ichigo glared right back at his new enemy.

"You're definitely not walking away from here alive," His aura radiated bloodlust, "Isn't that right, Kuchiki-taichou?"

Rukia turned around, slowly, scared of the reality of the man standing just behind her, "Byakuya…nii-sama?"

Everything happened much too fast for Tsukiko to comprehend. To make matters worse, she kept drifting in and out of the battle. She let her thoughts wander from her latest memory and back. Her eyes shifted over to Rukia, who had just jumped on Renji's back in order to save Ichigo. Tsukiko's heart couldn't help but waver at the sight of Rukia's futile attempts. The look in the girl's eyes was unmistakable. Again, her mind's eye drifted back to the girl 'Asaka-san' and began to shake. Kuchiki Byakuya stood to her left watching both her and the fight. Tsukiko couldn't feel his eyes on her when she held up her arm and her palm stretched out, as if to grab something. Her mouth moved, but no words escaped. He studied her carefully. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of tears running down her cheeks along with the rain.

"..s..op," She managed to choke out. Sadly even Kuchiki could barely hear her plea, "STOP!" She screamed. Unfortunately this exhausted what little energy she had left. Renji looked at her fragile form, stopping in mid swing. Ichigo took this advantage and swung at him. Renji dogged just in time, only getting a slight cut on the cheek.

"Che," He scoffed and jumped back to Tsukiko's side, "Taichou," He looked up at his captain, almost pleading (almost).

Kuchiki closed his eyes and averted his attention to the orange haired kid, "Fine," he stepped forward a bit, "Don't let it happen again, Renji,"

"Hai," He nodded and held Tsukiko close. He heard her breath out a sigh of relief and lean against his shoulder comfortably. He smiled at her sleeping form and leaned his head on hers, lightly. Rukia saw his actions and found it a bit odd. In all her years, Renji had never been the 'playboy type' or even just the person with the occasional girlfriend. Yet, there he was, looking as if he was nearly ready to settle down. It made Rukia smile bitterly (due to the current situation), but still unnerved her somewhat. This was the first time seeing her friend like this.

**A I S H I T E R U**

"Tsukiko-san! Please don't get up! I still don't think you're fully healed yet!" Hanatarou rushed to her bedside and tried to push her back down. She grabbed his wrists, gently, and removed his hands from her shoulders.

"I'm fine, Tarou-kun," She smiled up at him warmly, "The nights are still bright. Tsukiyomi has healed me perfectly,"

"But-" 

"I'm fine," Her voice was soft, but perfectly firm, "If you don't mind, I'd like to get home and take a bath,"

He hesitated for a moment, but agreed after a moment's thought, "Alright then. Please, be careful, Tsuki-neechan,"

Tsukiko nodded and left the infirmary. She thought of her swift choice of words, she'd given to Hanatarou. She'd said 'home', which gave her mind an uneasy feeling, yet a rather happy one. She realized that seireitei had become a sort of sanctuary for her, allowing her to sleep safely at night without trouble. Since the night she had gotten rid of the shadows that lusted for her soul, she'd not seen any since. Yamamoto had kept his word in strengthening the power of the sekkiseki rock around the city. She mentally thanked him, but her thoughts quickly drifted back to the word 'home'. For as long as she could remember there had been no 'home' for her. Even from what she recalled in the living world, her 'home' was no 'home'. Yet, here she was using the word as freely as a flying butterfly. She thought of her 'family'. What was family? The man from her memories that constantly abused her and her beloved feline companion repeatedly? Tsukiko shook her head from the horrid thought. She then thought of squad eleven. True most of the were perverted pigs and would take advantage of her the first chance they got, but there were people in the squad that genuinely cared for her, though they may've not shown it clearly. Ikkaku and Yumichika were like protective older brothers. They would never let her go anywhere without one of them, aside from a certain places such as her room. Whenever another squad member tried getting a little too close for comfort, Ikkaku would assign them a chore or paper work. Yumichika would offer a makeover instead. Yachiru would, instead of confronting most squad members, asked Tsukiko to play with her. Tsukiko, being as naïve as she was (almost as much as Yachiru herself) happily agreed and left the men in a flash. Kenpachi never did much, but glare and they would leave her alone instantly. It wasn't long before many squad members learned to leave her alone. Still some kept their eyes on her at times.

Tsukiko smiled at the thought of them being her family. They did act something like it from time to time. Her and Ikkaku would squabble on petty things. Yumichika and her got along surprisingly well (mostly due to the fact that Tsukiko had the mind of a ten year old, therefore ignoring most of Yumichika's vain comments). Yachiru was more like a baby sister; always asking to be played with or play some sort of prank. Tsukiko had a lot of fun with her. Her own taichou even played a role in her life. He was more a father figure if anything, despite his always wanting to fight with Tsukiko. Though, she brushed it off as competitiveness and his own version of fun. As much as she didn't want to admit it, even to herself, she really did feel comfortable and at home within squad eleven.

"Back already?" Ikkaku looked up from his sake as she walked by, "That was quick! It's only been about two days!"

"Fast healer!" She called out and headed to her room. Ikkaku shook his head and chuckled, then proceeded to drink his sake. Another thing Tsukiko was grateful for was her own room. Her surveillance had ended not too long ago and she had obtained her very own room, complete with a bathroom and bath area. Though, at times, she still found herself sleeping in Renji's room every so often. But that wasn't her problem at the moment.

The reason she was so in a hurry to leave the infirmary was a rather embarrassing one. Before Hanatrou had come inside the guest room to wake her, she found herself in the oddest of positions and had done something she couldn't explain in words because she hadn't known what to call it. She closed her doors and locked them. She stood there for a moment, leaning against her door and slowly slid down to the floor. Moments before she'd woken up she'd been dreaming about…

"Oi! Tsuki! Open up! It's Renji!" He knocked roughly on the frame of her door. She jumped slightly, not expecting his sudden visit. She quickly got up and opened the door for him. She flushed seeing his face and thought of her little experience just a moment ago, "Something wrong?" He leaned in close to check her and placed his hand on her forehead, "You don't look so good. And you're burning up,"

Tsukiko blushed harder, feeling his cool skin against her own, and pushed his hand away gently, "I'm fine. I just got here form squad four is all. I kinda ran. What are you doing here?" She tried to change the subject.

Renji leaned upright and folded his hands in the sleeves of his haori, "I came here to check on ya," He averted his eyes away from hers, "I went to squad four, but they told me that you'd already left,"

Tsukiko continued to blush, remembering every little detail, but kept her voice as calm as possible, "I'm fine, thanks," Her body shook with unknowing anticipation and her chest heaved up and down. She saw him scrutinize her room with his eyes, trying to avoid her frame.

He leaned in and placed his hand on the door to support himself, "So this the room they gave you, huh?" She nodded and kept her head down. He was extremely close to her when he leaned in the room, "Not half bad. It's almost as good as a vice captain's," He smirked at this, "You mind if I-mph!" Tsukiko cut him off in mid sentence. She was no longer able to resist with him being so close. She crushed her lips to his and pushed herself up against him, closing off any space between them. Renji was surprised at first, but quickly reacted and kissed her back and held her closer if that was even possible. He walked them inside and closed the door behind him, locking it shut. He pinned her against the nearest wall and their frenzy continued, lustfully. Renji began to lick her lips, begging for entrance, and let his hands wander feverishly. Tsukiko, being so inexperienced, didn't know what to do when he licked her bottom lip several times. When she didn't react, he bit down on her lip. She gasped at the sudden action. It wasn't rough or even hard, just the action itself surprised her. He shoved his tongue in as soon as she gasped and slowly began to explore her mouth. She moaned at the new sensation, letting him do as he pleased only because it made her feel good.

Instinctively, she used her own tongue to challenge his and caused him to groan slightly. He wrapped his hands beneath her thighs and lifted her up, pulling her flush against him. Tsukiko gasped, moaned and arched her back. Renji, breaking away from the kiss, threw his head back and bit back a moan that almost made its way out. For a moment he was sure she knew what she was doing, but the ever so innocent look on her face told him otherwise. He moved down to the sensitive area around her collarbone and began to nip at her skin lightly, letting his moist tongue run over it. Tsukiko's breathing became irregular as her fingers attempted to tangle themselves in his crimson colored hair. She yanked out his hair tie and ran her hands through his soft locks. She gave another moan when he began sucking on her sensitive spot.

"Tsuki-neechan!" The two jumped in surprise, hearing pink haired vice captain's voice down the hall. She happily barged into her room, but stopped short at the door, realizing it was locked, "Eh? Tsuki-neechan, it's not nighty-night time yet! Why is your door locked?"

Tsukiko and Renji quickly let go of each other and tried to fix themselves up. Renji quickly retied his hair as Tsukiko shouted out a lie, "A-Ano…I was trying to get Ren-kun to let me style his hair differently!" She went over and unlocked the door.

"Really?!" Yachiru's little face lit up like fireworks upon hearing this, "Neh, neh! Ren-Ren, can I help?!"

"No freakin' way!" Renji grit his teeth at her.

"Aw! Please!" She jumped on his shoulder and clung to him tightly, "I promise I won't dye it a permanent color! Right, Tsuki-neechan?"

"No!" Renji tried shaking her off of his arm roughly, "No one's going to dye my hair!"

"Please!"

"No!"

"Please! Tsuki-neechan, help me hold him down! Hurry!" Yachiru clung even tighter to his sleeve and absolutely refused to let go. Tsukiko stood in a corner of her room, watching the two bicker, with a smile. The only thing running through her mind (besides the events that had just occurred) was that this was truly her home.

**N O . V I S I T O R S**

"What is it?" Rukia asked in a monotone voice, yet it held a hint of melancholy in it. She'd been inside the squad six cell for a few days and had no visitors other than Hanatarou so far. Her back faced the steel bars and her eyes stared straight ahead, out the only window to the cell. She sat directly within the light, not caring (or moving) as dust particles floated through the window and landed wherever they pleased on her body. Time moved slowly as she watched as each new dust speck land on her fair skin. The only person she expected each day was the hesitant squad four member that was unusually curious about the world of the living, but today was different. Today someone else had entered her cell instead of Hanatarou. Their reiratsu was familiar, but none too comforting to her own senses.

"…" He newest visitor remained silent, perhaps thinking of choosing the right words to say.

Rukia chuckled slightly, "If you didn't know what to say, then why'd you come here?"

"I did, but…" Rukia heard hands slide down the iron bars, "I suddenly forgot the questions that ran through my mind when I saw you sitting there,"

"Tsukiko, was it?" Rukia turned her head to see the shinigami looking at her with uncertain eyes. Tsukiko nodded and Rukia turned her head back around to stare out the window once more, "Did you know that I've known Renji since we were kids?"

"Yeah," Tsukiko replied softly, "I knew. The seventy-eighth district even," Tsukiko smiled bitterly and laughed along with her next sentence, "I even know what your first reaction was like eating taiyaki,"

She chuckled lightly again, "I see. He talks a lot doesn't he?"

Tsukiko mimicked her, "Like a monkey wanting attention," They shared a moment of laughter, "But I suppose I enjoy it," Tsukiko quickly added.

"You're both very lucky," Rukia told her sincerely, "Don't let go of him. I don't think I've ever seen Renji look at someone that way,"

Tsukiko nodded and looked at the ground sadly, "Why…" She hesitated, not wanting to ruin the friendly atmosphere, "Why would you give your powers to a human?"

Rukia's smile faded, "I had no choice," Her response was greeted by silence. Tsukiko expected an explanation, "But that doesn't matter now," She continued, "My fate will be decided shortly,"

"How can you say that!?" Tsukiko slammed her fist against the bars and gripped them tightly afterwards, making the prisoner wince at the sudden outburst, "You're the only person he'll acknowledge as his sibling! He still cares for you and is caught between protecting you and his duty as a vice captain! He may not say anything, but I can see it in his eyes each time he's called away to another meeting concerning you!" Rukia said nothing and continued to hear her rant, "How can you just sit there and say 'that doesn't matter now'?! Why can't you stand up for your own sake at least?!"

Tsukiko stopped and waited for her to respond. Rukia didn't at first. She wouldn't have if she didn't feel such a strong desire to talk back to this person and tell her that she was probably wasting her time, "You must understand," Her voice was slightly more confident in what she was saying, "Even though I know giving powers to a human and running away isn't as serious as the death penalty, somewhere deep down inside myself I know that I am going to be put to death simply because I am of the Kuchiki family. There is nothing left to do, but wait for the announcement of my sentence date,"

"So that's it?" Tsukiko's voice was choked, "You're just going to roll over and die?" Rukia said nothing more to her, "I have nothing more to say to you, Kuchiki Rukia," Tsukiko turned on her heel and walked out the door, just as Hanatarou was walking in with a broom. He called to her softly, but she ignored him. She was too upset and deep within her thoughts to stop and chat idly with him.

She sat on top of a roof and drew her knees up to her chest and rested her arms on them as she looked at the setting sun. A gentle breeze caressed her face and soothed her thoughts. She closed her eyes, enjoying every bit of it. She re-opened her eyes and stared blankly at the horizon, hearing several crows call to each other in the distance.

'_Get lost, Aoiyuki! There's no place for you here!' My books, notes, writing utensils, and bag fluttered down from the fifth story of the school building, landing on the dirt in front of my eyes. I heard the girls from the class laugh cruelly and the boys shook their heads, wondering when someone was going to put an end to the constant fighting. I looked at my fallen possessions, clenching my fists and gritting my teeth as I continued to hear various comments or threats from the girls above me. I could feel the rage fill my body, like a volcano ready to erupt violently after being dormant for so long. I glared at nothing in particular in my path to retrieve my things. Again I heard laughing from above me, 'Look at her! She's such a slut! I bet she's just bending over like that to tease the guys! What a whore!' The laughter grew louder. I picked up all of my things and ran._

_I didn't know why I ran out of the school from them. I was ready to beat them to a bloody pulp with the rage that was filling my body. I could've marched up there and done it, but I didn't. I ran down the street, hearing their laughter grow louder at my actions, but quieter the farther I continued to run. A burning ach filled my chest and a soreness overcame my ankles. My arms grew itchy and tired and my stomach protested in agony. I ignored every one of them and continued to run until I reached my own sanctuary. A place on earth no one would dare come looking for me, or even think to find me. I panted and let my legs slow down to a walk, nearing the clearing of the mountain next to Mt. Fuji. I turned around, still trying to catch my breath, and let the wind blow and calm my emotions. My eyes were greeted by the lovely sight of the setting sun that just barely peeked over the horizon. Pinks, oranges, purples, indigos, reds and several other colors mixed together in the sky. I could see the half moon on the other side of the twilight, waiting to over power the sun._

_I didn't know what came over me, but seeing such a grand sight made be shed tears. They weren't tears of hate or resentment. They weren't because I was being tormented day and night, or because I was constantly alone. It was for something I couldn't understand myself, an answer that I knew, but refused to acknowledge._

Tsukiko let a single tear run past her cheek, looking at the twilight. She knew the answer she had not so manyyears ago. Yet, it was not an answer, but another question that required even bigger answers. A question she still didn't want to ask herself. Though, she unwillingly admitted it anyway, by simply remembering what it was from her past. She wiped her tears away and sat up, taking one last look at the setting sun. How could a world so beautiful, so full of life, be so ugly?

**T O M O R R O W**

Mori: That took longer than I thought! I thought getting out early (even if it was finals week) meant that I would have more time! I mean I know it was finals, but damn! I never study so I don't really know what happened there. I slept a lot though and it never seemed to be enough…hm…I should get my thyroids checked (sweat drop)

Review peeps!

1: Keigun- Shinigami ops that are sent to kill other shinigami

2: Chappy- A soul society cartoon character that is a cute little white bunny! Rukia's favorite character.


	7. Chapter 7

Mori: Woot! I love reviews! Has anyone played Mario galaxy? I can understand if you haven't, not everyone has a Wii. But go to you tube and type in "Mario feeds luma" and it's like the first one there. That's how I get when you feed me reviews! XD LMAO I need at least twenty reviews to burst with snacky happiness! XD

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter! I ALMOST wrote a lemon, but then I was like…I wanna be evil! Don't worry though, I'll do it eventually my little closet perverts!

**W A R N I N G S**

"Aniki!" Tsukiko whined at Ikkaku, who nearly spit out his sake in laughter. Considering Ikkaku was both older than her and her superior, she referred to him as 'aniki' in stead of 'nii-chan'. He was like an older brother to her, especially the way he was butting into her business at the moment, "Why would you ask that?!" She bared her teeth at him and glared viciously as he continued to laugh. It had been a nice simple day. The sun was bright and the breeze was gentle. The occasional cloud drifted by and they watched, as the white fluffs drifted carelessly, and sipped their various drinks. Ikkaku preferred sake, while Tsukiko stuck to simple teas. Yes, all had been calm and quiet until Ikkaku spoke his mind.

"I was just curious!" Ikkaku smirked, "The both of you weren't exactly quiet after all!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tsukiko thought she'd play it smart by playing dumb. She denied him the knowledge of her and Renji.

"Don't play dumb with me," He set down his cup and looked at her almost seriously. He clasped his hands together and acted in a girly manner to imitate his friend, "Oooh! Ren-kun!" He mocked and continued, seeing her face grow red with embarrassment, "Oooh! Oh please-"

"I never said those things!" She jumped up, holding her fist to his face.

"So you admit then!" He jumped of from his own seat to meet her challenge.

"What?! Admit what?!"

"Oh c'mon! Yachiru fuku-taichou might be naïve, but don't take me for a fool! You _were_ messing around with him yesterday weren't you?!"

"Could you be any louder?!"

Squad eleven members far and near felt the ground shake beneath them and head their superior's scream echo across the division. A few members that were playing shogi on their sides lazily, held the board in place and continued with their game as soon as it was over. Somehow, this had become a sort of ritual for most members.

"S-so, you admit it then?" Ikkaku was sprawled out on the floor with several bruises and bumps complete with a black eye and a mission tooth. Tsukiko blushed and crossed her arms, refusing to admit it even though she knew he knew. Ikkaku sat up, a serious look plastered on his face, "Don't go getting carried away, kid. I was just askin',"

She cracked an eye open at him and saw that all of his injuries had magically disappeared. She let her mind drift for a moment, wondering how he had managed to get rid of them so quickly. After all, this wasn't some cartoon where one could fix themselves up in a jiffy.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," He picked his cup back up, which had managed to retain any damage, "I am your 'aniki' after all right?" He gave her a knowing smirk.

Tsukiko huffed and crossed her arms, "Doesn't mean you have to interfere with my love life,"

"I'm not," he threw back, "I'm interfering with your sex life,"

"Aniki!" Ikkaku smirked as she complained further. She threw her fists repeatedly at his back, but her paid her no mind and continued to drink his sake happily. She stopped abruptly, sensing something she had not sensed in quite some time, but she couldn't comprehend it. She usually felt them at night, but here out in the day it was nearly impossible. It was so bright out, aside from the occasional could that drifted by.

Ikkaku felt Tsukiko's hands tremble against his back. He quickly grew serious and set his sake aside. He gave her a side glance and saw that her eyes were panicked and uncertain. She looked like she was about ready to faint. He probably would've though it was something that was making her act this way if she had been looking at something in particular, but seeing as how she wasn't he thought her actions were just plain strange. He narrowed his eyes and looked around the court yard. He didn't sense the presence of anything, other than themselves, around. Nor did he see anything out of the ordinary. Ikkaku glanced back at Tsukiko, eyes still narrow and alert. He knew something was wrong and that he had to be on alert, "What is it?" He asked so that she could just barely hear him.

She leaned in close to his ear, "Don't move," her voice was choked and ripped through the deafening silence. Nothing else made a single sound other than their own breathing. He could hear the panic in her voice, "They won't attack you," Before he could ask what was going on, a large cloud drifted over the court yard, casting a shadow and with it the things even more sinister. The cloud froze in place, blocking out the sun. Several shapeless shadows emerged from it. Their yellow hollow eyes glaring at Tsukiko for not being able to attack her in so many days, weeks even. Each one was about the size of a large boar, but held no resemblance to one in any manner. Their cloud-like shapes held firm against the ground. One bared its fangs and howled out. It wasn't like a hollow's cry. It was extremely high-pitched and almost sounded like a cross between a bat's screech and a human's scream. The other's quickly followed suit.

Tsukiko picked up Amaterasu and stood in front of Ikkaku, "Oi, what's going on? What the hell are those things? They don't even sound like hollows, much less look like them," Ikkaku stood up, ready to draw his own zanpakutou. Tsukiko held her hand up to stop him, "What are you-?"

"Don't," She cut him off sternly, "Don't get involved. They won't attack you. It's me they're after," She drew Amaterasu and readied herself for their attack, "If you really want to help, then go inform Yamamoto soutaichou-sama,"

"But-"

"Ikkaku," Her voice was deadly and serious, "I'm begging you,"

He clenched his fist and stared at her for a moment, trying to decide if he should really leave her or not. She'd never asked him for anything before, even if it was something small. She'd also never been this serious, as far as he could remember. He grit his teeth, growled, and nodded, "Fine. Don't go dieing on me, ya hear?!" She gave him a nod and a small smile before he used shunpo to get out of there as quickly as possible. Tsukiko turned her attention back to the shapeless, black creatures and glared at them. They screamed out once more and began to huddle together. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her sword tighter. They'd never done that before and it set her on the edge. For a moment it bubbled and released puffs of smoke as the creatures joined themselves together. The shadow became even bigger and its shape was more definite and round. Arms and legs stuck out as well as a small stub for a head, so that its yellow eyes can stare her down. The cloud remained in place.

Tsukiko raised Amaterasu, "Howl, Ama-" She gasped as it swung its large hand down in her direction. She quickly leaped out of the way. She didn't think that a thing so big could move that quickly. It towered over her threateningly, and clawed at her again. Tsukiko dogged it again and swung Amaterasu almost carelessly. A large scar worked its way up the giant's arm, but it quickly recovered. She landed on the roof, but it followed her and smashed the tiles with its mighty fist. Tsukiko jumped down and cursed.

**H E R E**

"You can't go in there! There's a meeting going on!" A guard tried blocking his path, but the intruder shoved him aside and continued. He pushed the doors open forcefully and set eyes upon thirteen captains alone.

Ikkaku bowed low, "My apologies for interrupting this important meeting! But I'm afraid this is urgent and cannot be postponed!"

Yamamoto looked extremely annoyed, knowing he was from squad eleven and was without manners, "What is it then?"

"Right now fourth seat of squad eleven, Tsukiko-san, is fighting off creatures that are unknown to Soul Society. They've somehow managed to break through our city's barrier,"

Yamamoto looked deadly serious as he stared Ikkaku down, "If what you say is true, then it seems we have no choice but to postpone this meeting for the time being. I wan any available captains to report to squad eleven with their respected vice captains to investigate these creatures. Go!"

"Hai!" Everyone echoed in unison and vanished with a flash.

"Ikkaku," Kenpachi caught up with him, "What's the meaning of this? What creatures?"

"I don't really know myself," He glanced at his captain, but averted his eyes back to the road ahead of him, feeling somewhat guilty for leaving her behind, "Weird looking things appeared and she just told me to go inform everyone about it,"

"Ken-chan?" Yachiru had made her way onto his shoulder without them noticing it. She looked up at Kenpachi's stone face. She knew he was worried, even if her didn't show it or admit it in any way. She knew him better than that.

**S H A D O W S**

"What the hell are these things?!" Yumichika shouted out, swinging his sword at them left and right. He had been taking a leisurely walk around the squad, when he spotted Tsukiko fighting off the shadows. As soon as he stepped into the court and called to her, some of the smaller ones turned and began to attack him. Tsukiko valiantly fought off as many as she could handle, even with the largest one still swinging at her. She had released Amaterasu several times, but they would screech and jump on her zanpakutou, covering up the bright light.

"Nii-chan!" She ran over to Yumichika and fended off some of the creatures. She tried to catch her breath, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, but what are they?" He glared at the creatures crouching to the floor and getting ready for their next attack.

"I don't know," She shook from rage and frustration and clenched Amaterasu tighter, "They've never attacked during the day before. They've never even attacked other people! Now they're joining together to become a larger being! I don't know what's going on anymore,"

"Oi!!" A familiar voice called from a distance. Tsukiko could've taken a wild guess and still gotten it right, she was more concerned on not taking her eyes off of her enemy. Yumichika, however saw no harm in looking. A small smile greeted his lips as he saw so many shinigami, both captains and vice captains. Ikkaku was the first to greet them, "Looks like things've gotten a lot worse here. Hope you don't mind, kid, I brought the whole clan," He smirked. Tsukiko didn't once look back or smile at them. She was too focused on how the shadows were behaving and too busy wondering why they began acting differently. Ikkaku, getting no reaction out of her, grew a bit anxious and walked up to her side, "Kid?" Her eyes were full of rage and fear, he could see her hands shaking at the hilt of her sword. He couldn't tell which emotion overpowered her actions. Fear or anger?

"Oi, Tsuki," Renji took a single step forward, causing her to mentally break.

"No! Stay back!" Her reiratsu skyrocketed, causing the creatures before her to scream. Several of the smaller ones lashed out, but she struck each one down, only to have it replaced by another. She hadn't noticed that the largest one was staying still. Tsukiko no longer knew what she was doing. Her only targets were the shadow creatures that threatened her existence. She lashed out wildly at each one, hoping that it would be the last in line. The others watched in silent horror as they watched the ryoka shinigami lose it. She was handling them perfectly fine on her own, but they still felt a need to charge into battle themselves. Tsukiko's reiratsu was forceful enough to scold them if they got any closer. She was too busy striking down some of the smaller ones and didn't notice the looming shadow above her head darken.

"Oi! Tsuki!" Renji called out to her. Tsukiko snapped to her senses and turned around. She reacted without thinking and stabbed the shadow's large belly. Instead of just the stomach, the whole creature burst and turned to a dark liquid that devoured Tsukiko like waves trying to sink a ship. She yelped and struggled against the darkness, "Tsuki!" The darkness reached her neck. She saw Renji weave through the pool of nothingness.

"Don't!" She managed to choke out with lungs full of liquid. He paused momentarily, but continued once more, "DON'T!" She screamed at him and finally sunk beneath the wave of darkness. The pool at Renji's feet began to recede rather quickly and form half way into the giant shadow creature (though half of it was still on the ground in a puddle). The captains and vice captains drew their zanpakutou at the creatures. The smaller ones gathered around the larger one and turned their backs to the shinigami. They all looked over their shoulder, almost laughing at them with their yellow eyes. A sort of growling whisper carried itself on the wind.

The large creature sprouted arms from the puddle and leaned in as close as it could to the shinigami without being poked by their zanpakutou. It opened its mouth halfway and spoke a single word. It's voice was deep and hollow, it echoed across the division in a low growl, "Regret," was all it said before lowering itself back into the ground. The smaller ones followed after it and disappeared.

Several shinigami tried going after the shadow, but it receded back into nothingness too quickly. It was gone before they could make their way over to it. Renji grit his teeth and punched his fist into the nearest wall, causing himself to bleed. Ikkaku cursed to himself and kicked the side of the building. Yumichika bit his thumb and remained as calm as he could. Yachiru made her way to the spot Tsukiko had last been and simply stood there staring at it, like she was going to appear there at any moment. The other captains and vice captains looked at each other, not sure of what to make of the situation.

Byakuya was the first to recover, "Send a hell butterfly to Genryuu-dono and Central 46. Inform them of all that has happened here in squad eleven. Include that the ryoka shinigami, Tsukiko, is now missing,"

**T O R N . A P A R T**

Tsukiko shot forward from her silent slumber and came face to face with nothing but a deep grey world full of dark grey clouds. She jerked her head left and right, but found nothing else. Slowly, she stood up and continued to look around. She steadied herself and cautiously reached for Tsukiyomi. Her hand gripped air and her eyes widened. She reached for Amaterasu and again her hand gripped the air. She reached and touched her back, not believing that her zanpakutou were gone. She steadied her rapid heartbeat and took a deep breath. There had to be a way out somewhere if she was able to get in. She took one step forward and immediately an enormous reiratsu filled the area, making the sleeves of her uniform fly in several different directions as once. It was almost strong enough to make her struggle for breath a few times, though she quickly grew used to it.

The shadows being cast beneath her feet, grew many times longer than they had been a moment ago. They spilt into seven separate figures and formed a sort of circle around her. Four of the figures were small and petite with feminine figures, two were somewhat tall and held no feminine features whatsoever. The last one stood directly in front of her. It was the tallest and had a muscular build. He towered over her and smiled, his crooked, rotting, teeth stood out from the shadowed figure. Tsukiko's, stance was cautious as she glared at each one around her. She looked for the one to attack first.

"W-what is this place?" Her voice was shaky and echoed through the dense fog. One of the feminine figures moved forward and grabbed her sleeve roughly, clinging to Tsukiko as if she would save her from the emptiness, "W-what are you-! Let go!" She tried to shake the figure off, but it held firm. Tsukiko tried backing up a bit; the others moved aside and let her fall to the ground on her back. The one that had grabbed her held her tight, in both hands, to the ground, "Get off!" Her voice echoed once more. The figure held her down firmly as the outline of its mouth turned into a sad frown. One could say that the look in someone's eyes could bring about old memories, or the expression on another's face even. But the way the frown was held, reminding someone of their past, could be counted as a strange trigger of memory.

Tsukiko screamed at the pain of the memory that flashed in her mind. Hot, salty, tears ran down her face as she tried to claw at the shadow holding her down to get it off at any costs. Tsukiko kicked and struggled against its grip and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her time in the seireitei lead her to believe that each and ever one of her memories were special and that she'd never want to forget anything, no matter how horrible things got. She proved herself wrong. At that moment she thought to herself that perhaps she'd forgotten everything in her past life on purpose because there simply were no good memories to cherish along with the bad. The only things she ever remembered were pain and sorrow to torment her now happy life. Tsukiko regretted wanting to know of the past that was meant to be forgotten to her. Aoiyuki Tsukiko had many regrets.

**G O M E N . N A S A I**

Abarai Renji was in no mood for this, but he had no choice. He definitely didn't want some scum transferring her to another cell. First, Tsukiko and now Rukia. Things definitely weren't going so great for him.

"What is it Renji?" Rukia turned her head slightly from inside the cell, "Has the day of my execution been pushed forward?"

"In less than fourteen days you will be executed," He kept his voice calm and strict as if he didn't know her at all, "I'm transferring you to the senzaikyuu shi-shinro, the repentance palace four deep cell," She nodded and let several shinigami dressed in white restrain her and force her to wear a white mask over her head. Renji calmly lead them to the repentance cell. Everything was deathly quiet along the way, aside from the sound of their footsteps. Renji let his mind wander to where Tsukiko could possibly be. It'd been several days already and there was still no sign of her. Not even so much as a trace of reiratsu. Poor squad twelve was constantly being pressured by so many people these days. Renji checked daily with them for any signs of her. Hinamori found time here and there, but the ones that were really doing all the pressure were none other than squad eleven. Kenpachi threatened them once or twice, Yachiru annoyed the living hell out of them and in fact spent most of her days within the twelfth division these days. Ikkaku and Yumichika would go along with Renji each day, but would also cause more of a ruckus than Renji. Renji knew that if he did cause too much trouble, then his captain would stop letting him pay daily visits to squad twelve because of complaints. Yachiru, Ikkaku, and Yumichika were the lucky ones since their captain was already on their side. Of course there was the occasional, random, squad eleven member that checked in to see if anything was found, but they were soon 'shooed' off the division for being inane and in the way to the squad. These days, Kurostuchi Mayuri, captain of the twelfth divison, was taking plenty of pain killers before each meal.

The white tower standing before him, brought Renji out of his thoughts. The guards brought her within the holding cell and he followed in after them, "Can you see, Rukia?" he asked after the cloth was removed from her head, "Out that window," She didn't even have to turn her head in another direction, for they already faced her towards the window. So far away, but very clearly, gleamed a giant zanpakutou on another hill, "The sokyoku," he stated referring to the zanpakutou in the distance, "The instrument that will end your life," Rukia said nothing and merely continued to stare out the window. One of the guards explained to her that she would look upon her fate each day in hopes that she would realize her misdoings. He then used kidou to release her restraints. As they were leaving, Renji walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning in really close to her ear so that only she could hear him, "Here's a tidbit of idle gossip for you. Yesterday, some new ryoka entered the Soul Society. There were five of them," He paused momentarily before continuing, "One of them was a soul reaper with a sword as tall as he was. A soul reaper with orange hair," She suddenly turned to face him, her eyes full of surprise and wonder. The most life Renji's seen in them for a long time.

He walked down the hall, thinking of what he had just told Rukia, when he was interrupted by Captain Aizen.

**L O S T . A N D . F O U N D**

"Mayuri-sama," Vice captain of the twelfth squad, Kurostuchi Nemu, appeared by her captain's side in a hurry. He had just thrown out the eleventh squad's vice captain and was ready to take a few more pain killers to relieve his head. He glared at her sudden appearance, wanting to be left alone for the time being.

"What is it, Nemu? Can't you deal with it yourself? I just got rid of that pink haired nuisance and I need a bit of silence," He swallowed them with a bit of water and tried to wave her off.

"But, Mayuri-sama, I assume this will be of importance to you if you don't want anymore of squad eleven members in our presence,"

"Oh?" He looked at her, now with interest and she handed him a chart on a clipboard. His eyes scanned the page and grew wider as they traveled downward.

"_Attention! Attention! All captains!"_ An emergency alarm could be heard throughout seireitei, _"All captains report immediately for an emergency officer's conference!"_ Kurostuchi rolled his eyes as the announcement repeated itself and further continued to instruct vice captains to meet in a certain area.

He got up and began to leave the room, "Nemu, send a few people from our squad along with a few neighboring squads, don't include the eleventh squad. I don't want that that damned captain down my back if something goes wrong,"

"Hai, Mayuri-sama," She quickly left the room after her captain and informed some of her squad members as well as the captain from the tenth division. He granted her several of his shinigami and agreed to keep the information under low profile until the situation was confirmed.

**R E Q U I E M**

The bright, hot sun beat down upon her back. It almost seemed as if it wanted to burn a hole along her spine with the amount of heat it gave off. Sweat formed on her brow and ran down her face, running onto the cool blades of grass. A few tickled her nose, but she was too lost to realize it. Her body ached and she felt feverish, but her own body told her otherwise. She shivered, despite the sun beating down harshly upon her back. Her eyes darted back and forth as far as they could and her breathing was unstable and coming out in shallow pants. A gentle breeze blew by, making her shiver and whimper slightly as the blades of grass brushed against her skin. The grass only agonized her further.

"This way! The charts said she's supposed to be in this direction!" She heard a voice and felt her heart race. Many footsteps could be heard around her and made her panic mentally, "Over here! I've found her!" At that point she no longer cared. Her body ached far too much and she'd rather soon die. Many others appeared by her side, touching her body and making sure she wasn't dead since she hadn't moved an inch when they'd arrived. A few people began to turn her over on her back, causing her to let out a scream of agony.

"Tsukiko-san! Are you alright?! What happened?!" Someone shouted at her. She winced at the level of his voice and continued to stay in her 'empty' phase. Her eyes were pupil less and glazed over, as if she wasn't fully conscious of her surroundings. She felt a cool hand place itself on her forehead, making her shiver yet again. The person jerked their hand back instantly, "She's burning up! Quick! We need to her to a medical station!"

Tsukiko looked around frantically. None of the shinigami there had the features she wanted to see. She felt herself grow sicker as hot tears began to spill from her eyes. She mouthed something, but none of them took the time to notice in their panic. She began to cry a bit harder, seeing that none of them were listening. The searing tears only added more pain to her already burning forehead and brought on an even stronger headache. She continued to mouth a single name and they continued to not notice. She found her voice and began to whisper it every few seconds, but her voice was still small and meek; cracking every few seconds. Her throat burned and felt like it was being scratched from the inside. She swallowed what little saliva she had and was able to talk a little clearer.

The shinigami that had begun to carry her looked down upon hearing an unknown voice. He looked down at her fragile and petite form and almost lost balance from the way she looked at him. Not too long ago he had somewhat disliked her for waking up all of seireitei because that same morning he had kitchen duties. Sleepiness plus kitchen meant plenty of burn marks for him in particular. He had disliked her for that reason alone, but seeing her as she was now changed his mind completely. Her eyes were still as empty as before, but were now full of tears that streamed down her cheeks. The red ribbon in her hair held fast against the wind current, careful to hold the ebony colored hair (with red streaks) in place. Her dry lips moved in a single motion and repeated it each time she got through what she was saying. She, somehow, knew he was now paying attention to her and directed a question at him. He was completely taken by surprise.

"Where's…Ren-kun?" He could just barely make out what she was saying because of the wind that whistled in his ears, but watching her lips move helped him quite a bit. Again she spoke, "Ren-kun…where's Ren-kun," Her voice cracked when he didn't answer her and she continued to let the tears pour down her cheeks. He felt bad, but went back to watching the path ahead of him. The entire way she refused to stop asking where Renji was.

Tsukiko felt herself being carried, but she didn't care. The freezing wind agonized every pore of her skin, but she didn't care. Her zanpakutou's hilts dug into her back, but she ignored it. She refused to stop asking. It wasn't long before the painful wind stopped beating her skin and the zanpakutou on her back stopped trying to stab her. She felt the warmth and comfort of a futon and she relaxed a bit, though she still felt uncomfortable form sickness. Her stomach felt like it was going to empty what little contents it had left and her dizzy head didn't help any. A familiar face rushed into the room. Though it wasn't the one she had originally wanted to see, seeing him set her at ease a bit more.

"Taro…-kun," Hanatarou kneeled by her side in complete shock. Her current state was unbelievable. It was as if she was just brought back from the dead.

"That's a first," The shinigami from squad ten muttered behind him.

"What do you mean?" Hanatarou asked without even looking back at him.

"The entire way over here she was muttering 'Ren-kun. Where's Ren-kun?'" He folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

"I see," Hanatarou looked at her fragile form once more and let rage fill his body. Instead of a shocked expression, his eyes now held a determined look in them, "Thank you for bringing her here. Please leave the room for sanitary purposes," His voice was firm. The man nodded and left in a hurry.

Tsukiko, without warning, cupped his cheek in her hand gently. He could feel her shaking from fatigue from her fever. She smiled sadly at him and let more tears run down her cheek, "Taro…-kun," She let her hand drop to the floor and felt herself slipping out of consciousness.

"Tsukiko-neesan," He whispered to himself, "What happened to you?"

**N O T H I N G . C A N . B E . E X P L A I N E D**

Mori: Yee! So how'd you like that one? Confusing much? XD lol I bet there's a lotta questions in those noggins! X3 Don't worry! All shall be answered…eventually!

Don't forget to review! Remember I need at least 20 reviews to burst with snacky-reviewy happiness!


	8. Chapter 8

Mori: Weee! I Love reviews! You guys are the highlight of my days! X3 Being fifteen sucks monkey balls! I wanna have my own place already and write comfortably in piece. (sniffle) I'm already working on my own story, 100 mine and not having to do with any anime whatsoever! Woot! So far I like how it's turning out! Hopefully I can find a good publisher. Did you guys know that there are child publishers that accept kindergarten writing? O.o I was like "wtf? What are they gonna write about? My first time being potty trained?" Yeah…I'm sure there's some child genius writer out there somewhere though…

Anyway! I'm so glad that you all loved my last chapter! Each time someone gives me a good review I get a self confidence boost of 5! My self confidence level is still in the negative numbers thanks to my mom and certain people in my school's office that treat me like I'm a retarded ass kid. I'm not a delinquent by the way, I'm too much of a wimp to be one. I go because of my club. I RUN MY SCHOOL'S ANIME CLUB! Just a little fact. Okay, I think I've been rambling enough so…ON WITH THE STORY!

**M I S T R U S T**

"What's going on? I was wondering what I was called here for, such a big production," Ichimaru Gin entered the meeting room full of captains, "Captains from around Soul Society, did you really come here just for me?" He looked around, noticing a person missing, "What's this? Captain of the 13th Division isn't here. What happened?"

"He's excused from illness," Someone answered him.

"Not better yet? Good luck to him…" He said to himself. Zaraki Kenpachi grew a bit irritated and confronted Gin himself.

"Enough," He stepped forward, "Do you think we called you here to discuss a sick captain? We heard you went to play with a ryoka without permission," He glared down at Gin with his one good eye, "And you let him get away. What happened? A captain should be able to take down four or five ryoka with ease,"

"What?" Gin decided to play dumb, "Isn't he dead? Gosh, I thought he was dead. Have my instincts begun to fail me?"

The room began to erupt in a somewhat calm dispute. Some captains further provoked Ichimaru Gin, others began to complain how boring this meeting was, still others remained silent to the argument. Head captain Yamamoto grew irritated of his captain's bickering and let out a loud cough to get them to stop, "Stop this disgraceful bickering! Kurostuchi and Kenpachi, stand down! But," He calmed down, "Now you have some idea as to why we called you here, Gin. What do you have to say? What is your explanation for allowing the ryoka to escape?"

He ruffled the top of his hair for a moment in thought, "I haven't got one. I was careless. I have no excuse," He shrugged.

"Sou-taichou," Kurostuchi interrupted, "I know now is not the time, but I believe I have information that will peek your interest,"

"Kurostuchi," Yamamoto warned. He was not especially happy that he decided to switch subjects so easily.

"It's about our very own ryoka shinigami," he quickly stated, "That brat from the eleventh division everyone seems to be pestering me about these days," He clenched his fist and let the last few words come out of his mouth through grit teeth.

"Assuming how you've interrupted the meeting so rudely, you've found her correct?"

"Hai," The room was eerily silent, waiting for him to explain further.

Gin was the one to break the silence, "That's good to hear! I'm sure she'd be useful in fighting off ryoka,"

"Unlike you," Kenpachi snorted and glared at him.

"Hey now," Gin frowned at him and began to say something else, but Kurostuchi loudly continued to speak like he didn't appreciate being cut off.

"But," He paused for a brief moment, "I am afraid, from what little information I had at the time seeing as how we were called to this meeting, her reiratsu was incredibly low and barely even noticeable. I wouldn't be surprised if she's no longer with us by now,"

"I see," Yamamoto thought for a moment, "You've sent others to retrieve her?"

"Yes. Several of my men to direct some members of squad ten,"

"Hitsugaya," Yamamoto looked at the tenth divison captain to confirm this.

"Hai," He replied almost boredly, "I allowed the use of several shinigami for a retrieve mission,"

"Why wasn't I told?" Kenpachi stepped up and glared viciously, "She's from my squad after all,"

"You and your entire squad has pestered me enough to last a life time, I didn't need anymore of your whining!" Kurostuchi shot back, glaring just as viciously.

A sudden alarm rang out, announcing that ryoka were beginning to enter seireitei. The captain's looked at each other momentarily before watching Kenpachi run off without permission. Outside he was met by Yachiru, who landed on his shoulder with ease.

"Ken-chan, are we gonna go play with the ryoka?" She smiled happily.

"That's right," he smirked, "They were strong enough to hold out against Ichimaru and even beat Tsukiko to a pulp when she entered the world of the living. I can't wait to fight them," His eyes held the look of bloodlust as he raced to an area he thought the ryoka might land.

**B R O K E N**

Tsukiko opened her eyes half way, letting her eyes adjust to the sudden burst of sunlight. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her body no longer hurt and burned with agony. The temperature felt somewhat nice and comfortable and she no longer felt the wave of nausea within her. She blinked slightly, trying to recall her last thoughts and memories, and sat up. A sudden burst of nausea exploded within her head. It wasn't a sickness type; more like the exhaustion type. Like one's been running for quite some time without any source of water and has finally stopped on the side of a road only to find themselves dizzy and unable to comprehend most information at that particular moment. She scrunched up her eyes and squeezed them shut tightly. After a moment or two she let her eyelids grow loose and then began to blink them open; the wave of nausea settling ever so slightly. She could hear the birds chirping loudly and a distant disinfectant smell reached her nose. She figured she must've been back within seireitei's fourth squad, but the question as to how floated at the top of her mind.

Tsukiko stared numbly at the wall in front of her, as if her mind wasn't completely there; just as she had done to the tenth division squad member the other night. She looked down at her hand and turned them over so that her palms were facing up. She stared and stared, as if they weren't the hands she'd known all along. She winced slightly, as her own hands became mentally stained with blood and gore, picturing the memories that made their way back into her mind. She felt like vomiting. She hadn't remembered everything. In fact, shinigami aren't supposed to remember their lives in the human world at all. Why Tsukiko remembered, was a complete mystery. As said: She couldn't remember everything, only that the shadow figure that grabbed her within the world of grey mist was none other than her own mother. The figure had been sad, lonely and in pain, but not because of what she had done. Merely because her mother had been in such an empty place for so long and was desperate. Tsukiko's eyes almost came into focus while remembering the hate for the woman. She was angry at her mother and didn't pity her a single bit. She did not regret what she had done to her while alive.

"Tsukiko-neesan, you're awake!" Tsukiko slowly turned her head to the sound of the voice. Hanatarou bit his lip uncomfortably. She was in the same state she had been last night: empty. He walked cautiously into the room and Tsukiko's eyes followed him as if she didn't know who he was. He sat down by her side and folded his knees beneath him, "Tsukiko-nessan, are you alright? You seem…strange," He looked down at the ground and back up at her, hesitant to ask such a question.

"Hai," Her voice was gentle, shallow, and barely above a whisper. It's as if she'd been a soft spoken person from the start, "I'm fine, Tarou-kun,"

He shivered slightly at the way his name was spoken by her. He clenched his fists and began to shake. He wanted to cry from the pain that _sh_ewas in. The pain that she refused to show anyone for her reasons alone. He knew she was in pain from the way she spoke and moved, but most of all because of the mass amount of emptiness her eyes held. They almost seemed to cry out for help, but kept their empty glare. He jumped slightly as she began to stand up.

"Ano…Tsukiko-neesan,"

"I am fine. Please let me leave," Her voice was now cold and distant as she began to strap her zanpakutou to her back once more.

"Alright," He replied somewhat hesitantly, "I know I won't be able to stop you if you do, but I think you'll want to know that Madarame-san is here. He's recovering in the healing ward room just down the hall," She looked at him with slight interest, waiting for him to say more, "He was defeated by a ryoka that invaded seireitei,"

"I see," She stormed out of the room and walked down the hall. She walked into what she assumed was the healing ward room he rested in. She opened the door loudly and stepped in. At first he didn't respond. He kept his eyes closed and waited for a voice to fill his ears to determine who it was. When no one said anything he grew a bit suspicious, but remained in the same position all the same. He heard the footsteps coming closer to where he rested and a sudden presence filled his left side as the person sat down beside him. His eyes snapped open at the intruder, but as soon as he did his blood froze, "Aniki," Tsukiko's voice was soft and meek.

Ikkaku stared at her in disbelief. She looked awful. Her skin was a little pale and she looked even more fragile than usual. She looked shaky and hesitant to be around, but the feature that shocked him the most was her eyes. Her poor eyes carried a far off look and held no emotion in them. Even as she looked at him, her voice filled with worry, they gave off no notion to how she was really feeling. In the few months Ikkaku had known her, he'd never seen anything like this in her before. It almost scared him to think what she might've gone through in the past ten days she was missing.

He lifted his arm and cupped her cheek almost affectionately. She flinched slightly at his touch, but made no other movement to reject his hand, "What the hell happened to ya, kid?" Tsukiko sighed heavily and leaned into his hand, clearly mentally exhausted, and closed her eyes, "Oi," His voice was low, but held no threat in it, "Tsu-"

"Madarame-san?" A captain barged in the room followed by his vice captain. The captain himself, looked like and odd looking figure, but his vice looked like an ordinary girl that one wouldn't have mistaken for a shinigami hadn't she been wearing a black robe and a vice captain's badge.

"Kurostuchi-taichou," He laid his hand back down to his side and gave the twelfth division captain his attention.

"I'm here to gather information about the ryoka you fought," He wasted no time in asking, "What did he look like? What were his goals? Where was he headed?" Ikkaku remained silent, looking at Tsukiko for a moment and then back to Kurostuchi, "Well?" The mad scientist was quickly growing impatient. Ikkaku still refused to give him and answer and because of this, the captain fired a shot at the wall above Tsukiko's head. Tsukiko didn't even flinch or move a single inch at the hole in the wall above her head.

A nurse rushed in the room, "Kurostuchi-taichou, no violence in these rooms please!"

"Shut up!" He fired another shot of kidou at the door frame, scaring the nurse away.

"Mayuri-sama," His vice captain stepped forward a bit.

"You too, Nemu!? Do you want me to cut you up again?!" He yelled at her. She quickly declined and stood down. He turned his attention back to Ikkaku, "You're telling me you refuse to share information about ryoka?! Are you on their side?!" Kurostuchi stepped forward in warning. Tsukiko's reiratsu flickered dangerously for a split second. She jumped up and stood in front of Kurostuchi, blocking him from Ikkaku, "Oh? What's this? You're on his side are you? Well then I'll just have to remove you as well," He reached for his own zanpakutou.

"It's not that I'm refusing to share information with you, Kurostuchi-taichou," Ikkaku's voice quickly cut through the tension, making Kurostuchi take his hand off the hilt of his zanpakutou, "It's that I don't remember. I apologize,"

His words only angered the captain even further, "Is that so? Well then, I'll just have to take a look inside of that pathetic little brain of yours won't I?" He stepped forward to reach for Ikkaku, but Tsukiko stood her ground and kept him from getting any closer, "How dare you! Get out of my way, you pathetic excuse for a shinigami!" He raised his hand to strike her. Time seemed to freeze in Tsukiko's mind. Her heart pounded in her chest. The action she remembered all to clearly, no matter what world she lived in. Whether it was in her nightmares or her memories, she knew very well what sort of pain was to come her way. Her eyes faltered slightly and closed, waiting to be struck. Nothing came. No stinging or aching sensation marked her cheek. She opened her eyes again, looking at her savior. Her captain, Zaraki Kenpachi, held the twelfth division captain by his wrist. His visible eye glared at Kurostuchi threateningly.

"Kurostuchi, I believe it's my decision to decide the punishment of the members in my squad,"

"Tch," Kurostuchi made an angry sound and yanked his wrist from Kenpachi, "Nemu!" He turned to leave, his vice captain following closely behind him.

Kenpachi looked at his two members carefully. Ikkaku turned to his captain and remained calm, "Taichou, you're here,"

"Baldy!" Yachiru popped out from behind his shoulder and waved loudly at Ikkaku, "We were worried about you! You too, Tsukiko-neechan! You've been gone a really long time!"

"Ah, fuku-taichou's here too? Heh," Ikkaku smirked at Yachiru's loudness. Tsukiko lowered her eyes to the side, avoiding her captain's gaze. She sat right back down next to Ikkaku's side, somewhat thankful for her captain's intrusion. Though she almost wished that Kurostuchi did succeed in hitting her. She would have, then, had a reason to go off, if only a little.

Zaraki thought her actions strange, "Where the hell've you been, kid?" He stared sternly at her back, but didn't glare entirely.

"I don't know," Her reply was quick and simple, as if she was lying.

"Don't give me that crap. Where were you taken? How did you get back here?" He refused to let the subject go. Ikkaku stared right at her, waiting for the expression on her face to change. At this point, he didn't care if she even broke out in tears like a weak little girl. He just wanted an expression, a reaction, from her to give him a sort of sign that she was truly okay.

"I was in a place, but I did not know what or where it was. I don't know how I returned to seireitei," Ikkaku sensed that she wasn't heading down the right mental path. He knew her mind was being pushed to its limits and that his captain was going a bit too far.

"Ah, Taichou," He interrupted, "About the ryoka,"

Kenpachi grunted but decided to let the subject drop for the moment, "Was he strong? What did he look like?"

"Very," Ikkaku looked at the ceiling as he spoke, "He had orange hair and…a zanpakutou as big as his own body. I warned him about you and told him what you look like. He's strong. I think he'll keep getting stronger and by the time you find him, I think he'll be even stronger,"

"Heh, what was his name?" Kenpachi smirked at the description of the shinigami.

Tsukiko's ears rang at the description of the ryoka. Images of him ran through her head when they were back in the world of the living. His piercing brown eyes and wild orange hair. The zanpakutou that emitted an incredible power along with his own reiratsu that continued to leak out continuously. A seemingly endless pit of raw power, "Kurosaki…Ichi…go," She choked out.

"Eh? You know him?" Ikkaku eyed her.

Tsukiko nodded her head, "The living world,"

"So, he was the one that kicked the crud out of you then, huh?" Tsukiko nodded to answer her captain, "Heh, I can't wait to find him then," Kenpachi and Yachiru disappeared through the door, leaving Ikkaku and Tsukiko in silence.

"I'm sorry," Tsukiko's small voice cut through the loud sound of birds outside.

"Hm. Tell that to Renji, not me," Ikkaku glanced at her, but quickly averted his gaze to the ceiling. He found it a bit difficult to keep eye contact with a person that wasn't completely there, "Sure, some of us were a bit…uncomfortable, but that man's been through hell and back trying to make sure you were okay,"

"I see," She folded her hands in her lap, "Where is he know?"

"Who knows, probably with the other vice captains. I don't really know where that would be. Sorry,"

"That's fine," She stood up and dusted off invisible dust particles.

"Where're ya going?" He looked directly at her, now that she was no longer looking at him.

"To find him," She turned her back and opened the door, "Be back," She stepped out of the room, closed the door, and walked calmly down the hall.

**R E P O R T**

"From the 11th Division, Madarame Ikkaku-sama the third seat and Ayasegawa Yumichika-sama the fifth seat. The above shinigami, due to severe injuries, have left the front line," The third seated shinigami of the fourth squad reported to the vice captains of several different squads within the meeting room, "Each division is reporting to have minor injuries. However the 11th Division was reported to have been completely wiped out.

The vice captains erupted into a light conversation about their own squads and who was reported missing and whatnot. A messenger appeared by Iemura Yasochika's (the shinigami from the fourth division) side and handed him a report, leaving instantly. Iemura looked it over for a moment before announcing it to the entire room. His eyes grew a bit wide, recognizing the names on the piece of paper. He coughed to gather himself up and began to speak clearly, "A new report has come to my attention. Two ryoka have taken a member of the fourth squad hostage. Also, not too long ago, Tsukiko-san of the 11th Division forced her way out of the care of the fourth squad and is now in an unknown location in seireitei,"

"What?!" Renji exclaimed and pushed himself off the wall, "When did she even get back? Why wasn't I told?!"

Iemura coughed lightly once more, "She arrived just last night, or rather, was found by the twelfth division. We've been under strict orders not to let such information leak for the time being because of the panic it might've caused, such as now," Renji grit his teeth and clenched his fist as the room, once more, erupted into a conversation about the current situations.

Hinamori Momo backed away to the wall, not really wanting to be apart of the gossip that was making its way around the room. She smiled nervously and spoke to Renji without looking, "It seems like the situation is getting worse and worse. Right, Abarai-kun?" She turned to him but was met with an open window flapping in the light breeze, "Abarai-kun?" She stared in wonder, thinking of where he could've possibly gone.

**P L E A S E . B E . M Y . E N E M Y**

Abarai Renji stood firmly at the base of the stairs. His sunglasses were lowered to protect his eyes from the dust the harsh winds blew in. He knew who they were and what they were after. He'd seen them at the gate when Ichimaru Gin had pushed them back beyond the gates of seireitei. He remembered that the orange haired shinigami wanted to save Rukia, back in the human world, more than anything. He almost scoffed to himself. The human was so predictable and easy to figure out. Renji clenched his fist tightly, causing a bit of blood to drip to the ground. He hated this man. Not only was it his fault that Tsukiko was in a bad state when she came back from the world of the living, but also because his nakama (1) was being sentenced to death in a matter of days. Yet, he couldn't just keep his nose out of other people's business. He just had to try and make everything worse than it already was. Renji felt the anger boil within his veins.

His ears picked up a light sound. It was muffled beneath the winds, but he heard it. Voices. Three of them. He felt one of their energy's spike. The enemy knew he was there.

"What is it, Ichi-"

"Someone's there," A different voice interrupted the first one. The dust settled down and he began to see them clearly. The first one he noticed was the shinigami with orange hair and a zanpakutou as long as his body, the second was a large man with odd clothing and marks. The last he figured to be the kidnapped fourth squad member he'd been told about.

"Long time no see," Renji lifted his sunglasses up and moved them to his forehead, covering the elaborate tattoos, "You remember my face?"

"Abarai Renji," The orange haired shinigami watched him cautiously.

"That's unexpected," Renji began to descend from the stairs, "You even remembered my name. You even have a pretty good memory," He smirked.

"Thanks for the compliment," Though he said this, it did nothing to express any gratitude whatsoever.

"I'm surprised," Renji continued to move forward, "I always thought that you had been killed by Kuchiki-taichou's attack. I don't know how you survived, but it's very impressive. Which is worth complimenting," Renji took one last step, which went towards a fighting stance, and pulled out his zanpakutou, "But you've completely crossed the line with me. You've stolen Rukia's powers and even critically hurt someone close to me. Tsukiko will live and get better, but if you're still alive then Rukia's power cannot be restored," Renji charged at Ichigo with full force.

"Back then, didn't you take her away 'cause you wanted to kill her?! What's the point of saying that now?!" Ichigo grabbed his own zanpakutou from his back and began to charge at his opponent as well.

"I must keep moving forward!" Renji stopped and took a fighting stance while Ichigo continued to charge at him, "That will depend on if you can defeat me or not!" Renji glared at him coldly, "Come, if you have the guts. Don't you like to risk your life?"

Ichigo snapped at his words and locked swords with him.

Hanatarou and Ganju, the other ryoka, stood and watched with both amazement and worry. Ganju had warned Ichigo not to get involved with a vice captain, but he paid him no mind and ignored his warning before he even got to shout it out completely. Ganju and Hanatarou began to converse lightly on the battle. At first it seemed as if Renji was winning, but Hanatarou told him to look closer. Ganju saw that it was really Ichigo that was leading the fight. A pale, but extremely sensitive, ear picked up their conversation. It'd been nearby when the fight started, but kept to itself within the shadows for reasons unknown. It began to walk forward, its footsteps soundless. It stood directly behind Hanatarou, without Ganju noticing.

Hanatarou felt a sudden weight on his head, back and shoulders. As if someone was leaning on him. He shifted his eyes up, uncomfortably, and nearly screamed out in surprise, "Tsu-Tsukiko-neesan! Wh-what are you doing here?! _When_ did you get here!?"

Ganju looked to Hanatarou and screamed out in surprise, "What the hell!? When did she get here!?" He looked at the way she was leaning over Hanatarou and began to blush slightly, seeing a bit of cleavage.

Tsukiko looked at Ganju with an empty expression, "You're lucky. If Ren-kun caught you looking at me like that, you'd be dead before you could avert your eyes," Ganju stiffened and sweat dropped. Tsukiko ignored him and turned her attention to Hanatarou, "Tarou-kun, it's as if you want that ryoka to win. Why?"

Hanatarou lowered his gaze shamefully and answered her in a sullen voice, "He…He's here to save Rukia-san. I don't know how you feel about this, but I've made my decision. So, please…Tsukiko-neesan," Tsukiko blinked at him and sighed.

"Fine. Do as you wish. I myself have no opinion in this city simply because I haven't been here long enough to know how severe certain punishments are. I won't stop you or get in your way. Just know that if the time comes, or the situation calls for it…"

"Your not gonna…" Ganju looked at her cautiously, thinking that she would really kill them if she was ordered to.

"I'll help you out," Her voice was serene, calm and gentle. It held sincere emotion and nearly brought tears to his eyes. Hanatarou felt like the Tsukiko he knew was coming back, slowly, but surely.

"Howl! Zabimaru!" Tsukiko averted her eyes to the fight. Her eyes held an interest in Renji's zanpakuto, as this was the first time she'd seen his shikai release. She watched as its shape became different and disjointed, pushing Ichigo back into a wall. Though Ichigo stood up again right near the three, Renji paid no attention to any outsiders. He couldn't see Tsukiko standing just several feet away from the enemy.

**2 0 / 5 0**

Mori: Woot! Sorry that took longer than expected! I kept going back and forth on certain parts of this chapter. I couldn't decide what fit better or not! O.0 But I finally decided and liked the outcome! Yee!

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! I am extremely happy with the outcome and expect more! Lol hate to break it to ya, but it's an even trade: Reviews  Chapters.

(Munches on reviews) Thanks btw! I live off these things! (smirks n munches some more)

1: Nakama: Close enough friend or comrade to be called family.


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